The Portland based indie folk band Blitzen Trapper have announced a new album titled Holy Smokes Future Jokes, which will be released via Yep Roc Records on September 11th. The band has released the first single from this upcoming album titled “Magical Thinking.”

“Magical Thinking” is a smooth indie folk song, with catchy guitar lines, and a backing rhythm section which gives the track a slightly hypnotic feel, which melds in well with the song’s vocals. The upcoming album was recorded at Long Play Recording in their native Portland, and was inspired by the George Saunders’ novels Lincoln in the Bardo and Bardo Thodol.

“I became obsessed with it, “ the bands frontman Eric Earley noted in a press release. “All the ideas contained in that book were speaking to me in a lot of different ways. The main theme that kept drawing me in when I was writing was what I call ‘cosmic humility,’ he adds. “It’s the idea that humanity is not the center of the universe or even the center of our own universe here on earth. We’re not the most important thing.”

The band released a deluxe edition of their 2008 album Furr back in 2018, in honor of the release’s 10th anniversary, and also premiered a single titled “Booksmart Baby” to coincide with this announcement. This album was their first record released for the influential indie label Sub Pop, and was received with a strong amount of critical praise upon release. Their most recent studio album release, Wild and Reckless came out back in 2017.

Holy Smokes Future Jokes

1. Baptismal
2. Bardo’s Light (Ouija, Ouija)
3. Don’t Let Me Run
4. Magical Thinking
5. Masonic Temple Microdose #1
6. Requiem
7. Holy Smokes Future Jokes
8. Sons and Unwed Mothers
9. Dead Billie Jean
10. Hazy Morning