The Mountain Goats Announce New LP, Release "Clean Slate"

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Read our announcement | See the 10 Best Games of 2025 (So Far)

The Mountain Goats have announced their new LP Jenny from Thebes, out October 27 via Merge Records. Serving as a sequel to 2002’s All Hail West Texas, the new album is “a rock opera about a woman named Jenny, who buys a Kawasaki to ride as far away as she can from a town she’s been carrying on her shoulders too long,” per bandleader John Darnielle. Its 21-year-old predecessor was a loose, rough around the edges and broad-spanning concept album that, over time, has become critically lauded. Our new star Jenny made her first appearance on that LP, and now she gets her story told in full in typically off-kilter Mountain Goats style.

Lead single “Clean Slate” sets the scene of Jenny’s life: The house she rents, the couch surfers she aids, the transformation she’s undergoing. It’s got that special admixture of nonchalance and deep humanity that make the Mountain Goats so irresistible, replete with Darnielle’s crisp drawl and a jazzy, cinematic combination of horns, shakers and piano—all of which set the stage for Jenny’s next chapter.

Check out the Jenny from Thebes album artwork tracklist below and watch the “Clean Slate” video here.

Jenny from Thebes Artwork:

The Mountain Goats Announce New LP, Release “Clean Slate”