The Mountain Goats announce reissue of The Coroner’s Gambit

The Mountain Goats have announced a reissue of their long out-of-print 2000 album, The Coroner’s Gambit. The album will be released on June 28 via Merge Records on “kandy korn” colored vinyl and CD as well as its first-ever cassette release. Original copies of the record were packaged in a paper bag with John Darnielle’s liner notes printed on them, and a number of new pressings will also feature the paper bag. Plus Darnielle has written new liner notes for the reissue.

In an Instagram post about the record, John Darnielle said, “There are few records in the Mountain Goats catalog that are closer to my heart than The Coroner’s Gambit. It bears a sonic thumbprint shared by none of its brethren (Panasonic RX-FT500, Marantz PMD-222, and sessions in Omaha probably recorded to a Tascam Porta-One) and while two of those sources appear on several later releases, none of the other records really sound like it. Although it contains exactly no autobiographical songs, it feels personal to me — intimate, diaristic. I have vivid memories of the songs I wrote and recorded in Colo, and foggy memories of the Greyhound trip to & from Omaha. I was taking Greyhounds across midwestern state lines to record songs with friends when I made The Coroner’s Gambit, is what I’m saying. You can maybe hear the exhaust of the Greyhound in the songs if you listen close.”

The Mountain Goats’ last album was 2023’s Jenny From Thebes. Also, read our Hall of Fame feature on their 2002 album, All Hail West Texas.

The Mountain Goats The Coroner’s Gambit tracklist:

Jaipur
Elijah
Trick Mirror
Island Garden Song
The Coroner’s Gambit
Baboon
Scotch Grove
Horseradish Road
Family Happiness
Onions
“Bluejays and Cardinals”
Shadow Song
There Will Be No Divorce
Insurance Fraud #2
The Alphonse Mambo
We Were Patriots