Much-admired American singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has announced he is to release his second album of 2011, with Humor Risk due out in Australia on November 4.
McCombs released WIT’S END earlier this year to a respectable critical reception, that record being a follow-up to his 2009 album Catacombs.
According to a press release, Humor Risk was recorded in homes and studios across California, New Jersey, New York and Chicago, in keeping with McCombs’ peripatetic existence. The new album was produced by long-term musical partner Ariel Rechtshaid.
The themes of Humor Risk are described as “drugs, Scientology, Western America, and so on, in allegorical form.”
In a recent interview, McCombs confessed, “In my old age I’m interested in songs with a good story, with characters that carry my imagination. I think through storytelling the true spirit of the songwriter comes through far more than if they were writing in the first person, spilling their guts out. I’ve learned this the hard way.”
That said, Humor Risk touted as a more sprightly affair than WIT’S END, regarded by many as rather cheerless.
The tracklist for Humor Risk, out through Domino/EMI is:
Love Thine Enemy
The Living Word
The Same Thing
To Every Man His Chimera
Robin Egg Blue
Mystery Mail
Meet Me At the Mannequin Gallery
Mariah (sketch)
