The Butterfly Days Are Here.
Stream or Download Jennifer Castle’s Exquisite New Album Monarch Season.
The butterfly days are here.
Jennifer Castle‘s exquisite album Monarch Season is out worldwide today, October 16th, on all digital platforms, via Paradise of Bachelors and our friends at Idée Fixe. You can stream or download the whole album now and also preorder the vinyl LP and/or CD in advance of the November 20th physical release date. The limited first-pressing deluxe LP edition includes a songbook of sheet music to every song (see below), inner sleeve with lyrics, and high-res Bandcamp DL code.
Castle’s sixth full-length record, 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.)
According to Uncut, “the album, with its Kodachrome warmth and minimalist posture, captures a moment in time, and makes the case for listening as a revolutionary act of intimacy, where headphones and vinyl form a psychic connection between artist and fan.”
We all need more revolutionary acts of intimacy these days, don’t we?
Pre-Order Limited-Edition LP+songbook/CD
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Or support via: Bandcamp (LP+songbook/CD/DL) | Other Options (physical/digital/int’l)
Watch the beautiful, Jesi Jordan-animated video for “Justice.”
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. Starting today, all physical preorders will include an immediate digital download of the whole album.
Thank you for your support.
ACCLAIM FOR MONARCH SEASON
8/10. This homespun suite of piano, harmonica, and finger-picked acoustic guitar is dotted by natural insect and wind sounds wafting through open windows, and her reverb-soaked voice has the effect of a close-quarters conversation. The album, with its Kodachrome warmth and minimalist posture, captures a moment in time, and makes the case for listening as a revolutionary act of intimacy, where headphones and vinyl form a psychic connection between artist and fan. – Uncut
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
8/10. Every album that Jennifer Castle makes feels like a guidebook on how to live… you will find yourself instinctively leaning in to catch every moment… ‘The butterfly days are here,’ and there is beauty to behold. – Exclaim!
[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
She’s the perfect artist to go to in this age of solitude. Her songs are fully attuned to herself and to nature and the seasons, a cosmic folk that aims for the moon while taking in the butterflies in front of you and the mind that contemplates them. She can’t tour the music, but you can play it live yourself: the album comes with a set of sheet music. – Now Toronto
A-. Gentle without faltering into the insubstantial and offering sustained passages of beauty that avoid the ornate, the music’s intimacy is a strong suit. – The Vinyl District
ACCLAIM FOR JENNIFER CASTLE
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 November 20, 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
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