The Mountain Goats have announced their 23rd album. Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan arrives on November 7. It features contributions from Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Replacements’ Tommy Stinson, harpist Mikaela Davis, and the band’s new bassist Cameron Ralston. Lin-Manuel Miranda, in fact, guests on the sweeping lead single ‘Armies of the Lord’. Check it out and find the album cover and tracklist below.
Billed as a “full-on musical,” Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan was produced by the band’s Matt Douglas. “There were sixteen men on a fishing boat but only three survived the storm, and one of those went missing, and is presumed dead,” John Darnielle explained in a press release. “That leaves me & Peter Balkan, whose health is failing as his apocalyptic visions dissipate in the spray at the shore.”
“The Mountain Goats are proud to announce Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan, a story of momentary visions away from the world, due 7 November 2025 on Cadmean Dawn Records: our own label!” he continued. “The first song we’re sharing from it is called ‘Armies of the Lord’; we recorded this in January at Dreamland Studios. Matt Douglas produced it; Ben Loughran who you know from tour did the synth with Matt as co-conspirator; that’s Mikaela Davis on the harp; the voice on the harmonies in the bridge that sounds like Lin-Manuel Miranda is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who followed Peter Balkan’s story from its early gleanings through its realization. Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan. Only available on Cadmean Dawn Records and tapes.”
The new album follows 2023’s Jenny From Thebes. “I loved musicals when I was a kid,” Darnielle said, “but I hadn’t really indulged in them that much until the last 7 years or so. And then we did Jenny From Thebes, which I called a ‘fake musical’ a lot… But this one actually is going for it.”
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan Cover Artwork:
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan Tracklist:
1. Overture
2. Fishing Boat
3. Cold at Night
4. Dawn of Revelation
5. Your Bandage
6. Peru
7. Through This Fire
8. Rocks in My Pockets
9. Armies of the Lord
10. Your Glow
11. The Lady from Shanghai 2
12. Broken To Begin With
