The Minus 5, the band led by Young Fresh Fellows frontman Scott McCaughey and co-founded by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, has unveiled plans to release a new studio album titled Oar On, Penelope! on May 30.
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The album includes contributions from Buck, Bangles drummer Debbi Peterson, Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood, and The Fastbacks’ Kurt Bloch. Drummer Linda Pitmon, who also has played with McCaughey and Buck in the bands The Baseball Project and Filthy Friends, appears on Oar On, Penelope! as well.
The album’s first track, a power-pop gem titled “Birds & Words,” has been released as a lead single from the album. You can check out an animated music video for the tune at Yep Roc Records’ official YouTube channel.
“‘It’s all too beautiful, man!’ If not original, that sentiment seems important to me, to this record, to my world,” McCaughey said, referencing a line in “Words & Birds.” “This came together after a few passes in the studio, and it sounds like we played it forever. That’s what can happen when you play music with good pals. Didn’t need to add anything except Debbi shouting along.”
Oar On, Penelope! was produced by McCaughey and engineered by Ed Stasium. Stasium is best known for his work with the Ramones and Talking Heads.
McCaughey added about the album, “The songs feel immediate, relatively unadorned, and somewhat more positive in an indescribable way. The words could be termed stream-of-consciousness, which is nothing new from this sector, but there seems to be a ray of light fighting its way through the usual twisted tales.”
Oar On, Penelope! can be pre-ordered now. It’s The Minus 5’s first album of all-original tunes since Stroke Manor, which was released in 2019.
The Minus 5’s Tour Plans
The Minus 5 is among the many acts taking part in the inaugural Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise. The seagoing extravaganza will embark from Miami on May 9 and visit Nassau in The Bahamas before returning on May 13.
The Minus 5 also has six shows lineup up on the West Coast in June. The trek will run from a June 1 concert in Pioneertown, California, through a June 7 performance in Seattle.
More About The Minus 5 and Scott McCaughey
McCaughey has led The Young Fresh Fellows since 1981. In 1993, he and Buck founded The Minus 5 as a side project along with The Posies’ Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. The group’s lineup has featured a rotating cast of musicians over the years.
From 1994 to 2011, McCaughey was a member of R.E.M.’s touring band and also contributed to that group’s albums.
In 2008, McCaughey formed The Baseball Project with Buck, Pitmon, and Linda’s husband, Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn. The group, which now also features R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills, plays original baseball-themed indie-rock tunes.
In 2014, McCaughey co-founded the alt-rock supergroup Filthy Friends with Buck, Bloch, and Sleater Kinney member Corinne Tucker. Pitmon joined the band in 2017.
In 2017, McCaughey suffered a serious stroke, from which he’s since recovered.
Oar On, Penelope! Track List:
- “Words & Birds”
- “Death the Bludgeoner”
- “Let the Rope Hold, Cassie Lee”
- “I Don’t Want to Hate Anyone”
- “The Garden of Arden”
- “Last Hotel”
- “Bison Queen”
- “Falling Like Jets”
- “Burgundy Suit”
- “Blow in My Bag”
- “Sharktooth”
- “What Shall Not Be Released”
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