Bleed Out (Mountain Goats album)

Bleed Out is the 21st studio album by indie folk band the Mountain Goats, released on August 19, 2022, through Merge Records. The album was written between December 2020 and January 2021, and recorded immediately following this at Betty's in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Bleed Out was produced by Alicia Bognanno of Bully. The album was preceded by the lead single "Training Montage".^[11]

Bleed Out
Studio album by the Mountain Goats
Released	August 19, 2022 (2022-08-19)
Recorded	January 2021[1]
Studio	Betty's (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US)
Genre	Alternative rock[1]
Length	47:22
Label	Merge
Producer	Alicia Bognanno
The Mountain Goats chronology
Dark in Here (2021) Bleed Out (2022) Jenny from Thebes (2023)
Singles from Bleed Out
"Training Montage" Released: June 1, 2022 "Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome" Released: July 11, 2022 "Mark on You" Released: August 2, 2022

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
And It Don't Stop	A[4]
The Guardian	[5]
Mojo	[6]
Paste	7.4/10[7]
Pitchfork	7.6/10[8]
Record Collector	[9]
Uncut	7/10[10]

Background and recording

Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle took inspiration from action films from the 1960s to the 1980s that he watched at his home in North Carolina towards the end of 2020. He then began writing songs, and in January 2021, was joined by bandmates Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster, and Matt Douglas at Betty's Studios near his home in Chapel Hill, where recording was completed within a week.^[12]

Music and lyrics

According to music critic Robert Christgau, Bleed Out relies more heavily on electric guitars than Darnielle's preceding work, while the logically "allusive" lyrics portray characters, "good [or] bad", who are generally "on some edge or other in a culture stretched near the breaking point by greed and violence that have become commonplaces.^[4]

Track listing

All lyrics and music are written by John Darnielle except where otherwise noted. Writing credits are taken from the album's liner notes.

Bleed Out track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Training Montage"			4:28
2.	"Mark on You"			2:21
3.	"Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome"		Darnielle Matt Douglas	2:30
4.	"Extraction Point"			5:20
5.	"Bones Don't Rust"			2:25
6.	"First Blood"			3:06
7.	"Make You Suffer"			3:29
8.	"Guys on Every Corner"			3:13
9.	"Hostages"			7:10
10.	"Need More Bandages"			3:42
11.	"Incandescent Ruins"			2:29
12.	"Bleed Out"	Darnielle Peter Hughes		7:09
Total length:				47:22

Charts

Chart performance for Bleed Out

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[13]	73
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[14]	33
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[15]	22
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[16] [17]	8
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[18] [19]	37
US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[20] [21]	10
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[22] [23]	9