MOUNTAIN GOATS-THROUGH THIS FIRE ACROSS FROM PETER BALKAN

In the night of May 29, 2023, I had a dream. Waking from it, I transcribed what I could remember of it into the note-taking app I keep on my phone. The note reads: “through this fire across from peter balkan #dream. It was the title of a work, not sure which form.” The next time I sat at the piano to see if I had ideas, I got the notion of writing a work that proceeded from its title, and that tried to make real the dreamlike grammar of that title. This album is that work. Since its protagonist shares a first name with our longstanding bassist Peter Hughes, who bid farewell to the sea in 2024, this album is dedicated to him – he who served aboard the good ship Mountain Goats for so many years: may the fire always keep you warm, and may your nights in its light be as numerous as the grains of sand on the beach.

Special thanks: to Jerry Marotta and all at Dreamland; to Ryan Matteson and all at Ten Atoms; and to every port of call along the endless ocean way, sea-facing or no, landlocked or otherwise.
–John Darnielle
Durham, NC, 2025