Jennifer Castle Shares the Spellbinding Title Track of Monarch Season.

$9.00 – $32.00

Or support via: Bandcamp (LP+songbook/CD/DL) | Other Options (physical/digital/int’l)

Hear the title track off Jennifer Castle‘s exquisite upcoming album Monarch Season, out October 16th (digital) and November 20th (physical) on Paradise of Bachelors and Idée Fixe. Don’t miss the LP with songbook edition.

Can you hear the wings in everything?

Castle shares her reflections on the spellbinding single:

“I remember writing ‘Monarch Season’ last year this time. The monarchs were out in the sky, on the trees and in the meadows. Of course they are so inspiring. And yet the words I remember resonating with me the most are “I can’t help myself from flying away with them.” Something about that line felt so self-compassionate, the medicine of it worked first on me, and the rest came fast and easy. It gave me the permission to be the type of person that, at 43, still gets profoundly overwhelmed by nature and her cycles, and needs to stop what I’m doing to suddenly write a song about butterflies. Are you like that? Me too.”

– Jennifer Castle

Don’t miss the beautiful, Jesi Jordan-animated video for the album’s previous single, “Justice,” premiered by The FADER.

Castle’s sixth full-length album, the moon-suffused Monarch Season—an album as delicate and diaphanous as its namesake butterfly—stands, in a literal sense, as her first proper “solo” album, performed alone in her coastal kitchen, windows open to the insects and the wind and the reflection of the moon on Lake Erie, entirely without human accompaniment (though a chorus of crickets provides rich interstitial support throughout.)

The limited first-pressing deluxe LP edition includes a songbook of sheet music to every song, inner sleeve with lyrics, and high-res Bandcamp DL code.

LP and CD preorders will ship approximately a week before the November 20, 2020 physical release date, along with any additional items purchased as part of the same order. The first pressing of 1000 vinyl LPs includes a limited-edition songbook featuring sheet music and lyrics for the entire album, as well as exclusive photos. Subsequent vinyl pressings will not include the songbook.

The album will be released digitally on October 16, 2020. For digital-only preorders and high-res digital files, please visit Bandcamp. All pre-orders, physical and digital alike, include an immediate download of lead single “Justice,” as premiered by The FADER. Thank you for your support.

There is so much space left in the mix that she might consider crickets and lapping lake water to be collaborators. But despite its apparent fragility on first listen, Monarch Season contains all of the intensity that Castle refuses to shy away from …

– The FADER

[Monarch Season] conjures a very specific setting of tranquility, and “Justice” is a spectacular showcase of what the record sounds like as a whole. Castle sings gently yet confidently over crackling guitar plucks, her voice drizzled with just a touch of echo that adds subtle texture to the back of the mix. By the end, the music halts and cuts to chirping crickets, crinkling leaves, and the steady ripple of a lakeshore. It’s beautiful.

– Consequence of Sound

Amid the crickets, the waves and the moonlight, you can take solace in Monarch Season.

– CBC Music, Fall 2020 Albums You Need to Hear

Like last night’s dream you can’t remember … The melody seems called up by the cadence, the instrumentation feels like a reflection of the voice, and you can find yourself listening for those tiny lifts, the suspensions in the songs replacing the songs themselves.  

– Greil Marcus

No hyperbole, Jennifer Castle is a spectacular songwriter. Her singing carries the joy of life.

– The FADER

Flickers between the broadly universal and the devastatingly personal… She effortlessly conveys the conflicting emotions that accompany loss.

– Pitchfork

Ethereal, deeply poetic.

– Associated Press

Castle channels the lunar radiance of Emmylou Harris and the heartfelt barroom blues of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, quietly gleaming with a rustic beauty and a deep, patient understanding of the mystic. This record is a genuine masterpiece. 

– Aquarium Drunkard

Through October 16, get 40% off orders of Castle’s previous masterpiece Angels of Death with coupon code MONARCH, only on the PoB website.

$9.00 – $30.00