Merge Records is pleased to announce the surprise release of Home Alone on Halloween, a new EP from Titus Andronicus, available digitally beginning today with limited-edition pumpkin orange 12-inch vinyl shipping out immediately from the Merge store.
With Home Alone on Halloween, noted rock band Titus Andronicus [hereafter +@] celebrate the spookiest of the seasons by staring into the abyss and confronting the bone-chilling terror which lies at the haunted heart of our human experience. Bearing the justly feared catalog number MRG666, the 12-inch EP spans 31 minutes and features three tracks recorded concurrently with the group’s most recent full-length A Productive Cough, offering an autumnal tableau of dread and decay to complement its LP companion’s springtime visions of rebirth and new possibilities.
The title track remixes A Productive Cough’s hardest-rocking selection, foregrounding its ominous strings and swelling organ and featuring a soulful new lead vocal from frequent +@ special-teams captain Matt “Money” Miller, while “Only a Hobo” plucks an oft-forgotten gem from the dusty corners of the Bob Dylan songbook to paint a grim portrait of hopes dashed and potential squandered. Eeriest of all is “A Letter Home” which, across nearly 17 minutes and more than 1,200 words, drags the listener along for a harrowing descent into the darkness and proves definitively that this ceremony is no mere monster mash.
“Death is not scary,” explains +@ singer-songwriter Patrick Stickles, shaking off a cold sweat. “Everyone has to die, but not everyone gets to die surrounded by love with the satisfaction of a life well-lived. What frightens me, far more than ghouls or goblins, is knowing that I may yet face the former without the comfort of the latter. When it comes to that of which nightmares are made, a werewolf popping out of the bushes is nothing next to a life without love when it is too late to turn back.”
If only they can find the courage, +@ will soon embark on the previously announced “American Rock Band Tour,” their first extensive run of “full band” concerts since 2016. By popular demand, they have now added a special second show at Monty Hall in Jersey City, NJ, for Halloween night, which threatens to be the most terrifying +@ concert ever. They are joined on select dates by up- and-coming rockers Summer Cannibals, longtime lodestars and Merge Records labelmates Spider Bags, and, for certain co-headlining shows, the legendary Ted Leo, performing solo. Don’t miss yr chance to see the “American Rock Band” when they come to haunt yr town.
Titus Andronicus on tour:
Oct 12 New Haven, CT – Space Gallery%
Oct 13 Northampton, MA – Pearl Street%
Oct 14 Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall%
Oct 15 Pittsburgh, PA – Cattivo%
Oct 16 Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class%
Oct 17 Columbus, OH – Skully’s Music Diner%
Oct 18 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop%
Oct 19 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge*
Oct 20 Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel [SOLD OUT]*
Oct 22 Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck*
Oct 23 St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway*
Oct 24 Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Cafe Page 1 of 2
Page 2 of 2Oct 25 Nashville, TN – Basement East*
Oct 26 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Hell)*
Oct 27 Durham, NC – Motorco*
Oct 28 Richmond, VA – Capital Ale House*
Oct 30 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar^
Oct 31 Jersey City, NJ – Monty Hall^
Nov 01 Asbury Park, NJ – House of Independents^
Nov 02 Jersey City, NJ – Monty Hall [SOLD OUT]^
Nov 03 Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel^
% w/ Summer Cannibals
* w/ Ted Leo (solo)
^ w/ Spider Bags
