Mega Bog Goes Noir with “Maybe You Died” and its Sinister Video and Announces Life, and Another Record Release Shows.

Mega Bog Goes Noir with “Maybe You Died” and its Sinister Video and Announces Life, and Another Record Release Shows.

“Life, and Another, the forthcoming album from Erin Birgy’s shapeshifting group Mega Bog, is so dense with information that it could conceivably come with its own volume of CliffsNotes. Inspired in part by an extended period of solitude, it’s a firehose of cryptic metaphors, veiled allusions, and seemingly disconnected thoughts sprayed against a bright, skeletal frame of jagged jazz-prog. At every turn lies a surfeit of detail that is thrilling and bewildering in equal measure. “Maybe You Died,” though, is different. Where songs like “Weight of the Earth, on Paper” and “Crumb Back” are wiry and spry, this one is subdued: a sullen, minor-key slow burn led by the synths and guitars reminiscent of ’80s Springsteen in his elegiac mode. Birgy begins with a narrative setup whose economy could rival that of the world’s most famous six-word story: “Smell of wintergreen/Chewing gum/In a Coach leather bag/You gave me/Mom found/Curb sale/What an amazing/Two dollars,” she murmurs, covering four of the five senses in her first three lines alone.” – Pitchfork

“[On ‘Station to Station’] she moves about in prismatic, somber synths, reflecting on transformations of the soul.” – Aquarium Drunkard

“Chamber-popper Erin Birgy unveils her gem of a new album with a synth-pop ballad that wafts through with all the poignancy and loveliness of Prefab Sprout.” – The Guardian

“[’Station to Station’ is] an earthy, mysterious creation inhabited by thick layers of synthesizer, fluid bass and Birgy’s breathy vocals.” – Brooklyn Vegan

Mega Bog (the world-inhabiting moniker of song-animator Erin Birgy) will release her new album, Life, and Another, next Friday, July 23rd (with a vinyl release on August 27th). Today, she releases a new single/video, “Maybe You Died,” which follows previously released tracks “Station to Station,” “Weight of the Earth, on Paper,” and “Crumb Back.” “Maybe You Died” is tender and howling, Birgy’s voice sounding incantations over drifting guitar and piercing synth. The cinematic video, featuring a midnight scooter ride through Los Angeles and a sinister (though ambiguous) murder, was directed by Birgy using vintage VHS camcorder equipment. It features Birgy, Bog bandmate Zach Burba, and Louise Chicoine, who also shot the video together.

“This song was an exercise in presence, looking around,” explains Birgy. “What do I see and feel? What I see and feel are influenced by everything I’ve experienced up until that point, making that point irrelevant as an individual, meaning my present is less about time and external, but more about accepting my perspective, the narrative that got me here, images or situations, triggers that hold you from moving forward or rushing past without reckoning, and learning to care for pains that are part of you.” Some images and aesthetics in the accompanying video have always been a part of “Erin’s world”—in her words, “dark, leathered, supernatural, horny, evil.” Birgy adds: “The many faces and intentions of a demonic time lapse, and the shock of what I’m capable of.”

Watch Mega Bog’s Video for “Maybe You Died”

Mega Bog will play two release shows for Life, and Another: August 29th at Zebulon in Los Angeles (tickets HERE), and September 1 at Elsewhere in Brooklyn (tickets HERE).

Pre-Order LP, CD, and Limited-Edition Book

$9.00 – $40.00

FORMAT

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Bandcamp (LP/CD/DL/book)
Other Options (physical/digital/int’l)

Life, and Another was written while Birgy cohabited with co-producer, engineer, and percussionist James Krivchenia in a small cabin near the Rio Grande. There, Birgy found herself often alone between their separate touring schedules. These isolations opened a familiar black hole of troubling projections, and any desire to remain positive continued to fold back into self-destructive thought and fear. Over time, a budding interest in mindfulness, attachment theory, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and rage gave way to new productive brain processes. These creative juices followed Birgy on the road and into subsequent lonely bedrooms as the songs continued to flow.

Departing from the humid spider plant nursery of previous record Dolphine (2019), Life, and Another brings us back to our home planet, into the rarefied air pressure of a desert valley where its fourteen songs were written and scattered like stones in the landscape, each one a precious gem chiseled by Birgy. Life, and Another features instrumental contributions from longtime and new collaborators, including Aaron Otheim, Zach Burba of iji, Will Segerstrom, Matt Bachmann, Andrew Dorset of Lake, James Krivchenia of Big Thief, Meg Duffy of Hand Habits, Jade Tcimpidis, Alex Liebman, and co-engineers Geoff Treager and Phil Hartunian. The album is another fantastical off-world transmission and Birgy’s most sophisticated, exploratory, and accessible statement yet.

A limited-edition Life, and Another photo and song book, featuring images, songwriting and studio notes, collages and texts by Erin Birgy, and drawings by Zach Burba, designed by Joel Gregory, is available exclusively via Paradise of Bachelors.

Deluxe LP edition features 140g virgin vinyl; heavy-duty matte board jacket; insert with lyrics and credits; and high-res Bandcamp download code.
CD edition features gatefold jacket with LP replica art and insert with lyrics and credits.
All preorders include an immediate download of lead single “Station to Station.”
CD/book/digital release date: July 23, 2021
Vinyl LP release date: August 27, 2021

Life, and Another: The Book

In addition to the album’s LP, CD, and digital iterations, a limited-edition Life, and Another photo and song book (perfect bound, foil-stamped cover, 64 full-color pages, 300 copies only) featuring images, songwriting and studio notes, collages and texts by Erin Birgy, and drawings by Zach Burba, designed by Joel Gregory, is available, while supplies last, exclusively via Paradise of Bachelors. See below for a preview.

Watch the “Weight of the Earth, on Paper” Video

Watch the “Station to Station” Video

Love to NPR Music’s All Songs Considered and Bob Boilen for playing “Station to Station”—”a song inspired by the Never Ending Story soundtrack” (!)—and sharing the gorge video (pun intended). Listen to the show for a manatee field report from Erin Birgy, sitting beside a Florida river.