So it ain’t no Crying Game-like secret that Ben Bridwell and his (mostly) faithful sidekicks have got a new release, Cease to Begin, coming out on Sub Pop October 9th. By now you probably even know the track listing by heart (or at least as well as The Dirty Projectors know Damaged), but here it is with the cover art for grits ‘n’ giggles’ sake:

1. “Is There a Ghost”

2. “Ode to LRC”

3. “No One’s Gonna Love You”

4. “Detlef Schrempf”

5. “The General Specific”

6. “Lamb on the Lam (In the City)”

7. “Islands on the Coast”

8. “Marry Song”

9. “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands”

10. “Window Blues”

And though I’m always a sucker for tunes about former West German b-ballin’ Huskies (i.e. the fourth song), unfortunately – like a little girl who wants a pony but gets one of Walter Farley’s serials instead – we’ll just have to take what we can get. And what we’ve got is the first cut “Is There a Ghost“ made available for download on BoH’s MySpace page yesterday.

Honestly, I don’t really hear that much of a marked departure from last March’s Everything All the Time. That’s not a criticism or anything; it’s just an observation. Lyrically, Bridwell gets all kinds of mileage from a mere 14 words. (And no, they’re not those 14 words, Meister.) Sonically, it’s the same yee-haw squall cum boo-y’all drawl in an echo chamber – the likes of which the music supervisors over at One Tree Hill go horse shit for.