LP - Limited Edition Half and Half Yellow & Black Split Vinyl in Gatefold sleeve with printed lyrics + a printed insert for full album download.
The Mountain Goats’ catalog is thick with recurring characters—Jenny, who originally appears in the All Hail West Texas track bearing her name, as well as in “Straight Six” from Jam Eater Blues and Transcendental Youth side two jam “Night Light,” is one of these, someone who enters a song unexpectedly, pricking up the ears of fans who are keen on continuing the various narrative threads running through the Mountain Goats’ discography before vanishing into the mist. In these songs, Jenny is largely defined by her absence, and she is given that definition by other characters. She is running from something. These features are beguiling, both to the characters who’ve told her story so far and to the listener. They invite certain questions: Who is Jenny, really? What is she running from? Well, she’s a warrior and a thief, and, this being an album by the Mountain Goats, it’s a safe bet whatever she’s fleeing is something bad. Something catastrophically bad.
Jenny from Thebes is the story of Jenny, her southwestern ranch style house, the people for whom that house is a place of safety, and the west Texas town that is uncomfortable with its existence. It is a story about the individual and society, about safety and shelter and those who choose to provide care when nobody else will.
Tracklisting:
A1 Clean Slate
A2 Ground Level
A3 Only One Way
A4 Fresh Tattoo
A5 Cleaning Crew
A6 Murder At The 18th Street Garage
B1 From The Nebraska Plant
B2 Same As Cash
B3 Water Tower
B4 Jenny III
B5 Going To Dallas
B6 Great Pirates
