Carey Mercer diagnosed with throat cancer, releasing new Frog Eyes record

Canadian musician Carey Mercer has announced that he’s set to return with the first new Frog Eyes album - Carey’s Cold Spring - since 2010, using the moment to disclose the sad news that he’s recently been diagnosed with throat cancer.

Mercer revealed this shocking detail in the album announcement for Carey’s Cold Spring, writing: “Two days after I green-lit the final mixes of the record, I got a call from a doctor who told me that I have throat cancer. I’ve been really hesitant about including this, going back and forth, but I have decided to include this information: illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is a big thing, a thing that impacts a life and forces changes on the way, for example, a songwriter releases her or his product. So I release this from a place where it’s hard to say if I will be on the road to promote it. This is why I have chosen to control the release myself and put it out through the limited channels available to me right now.”

According to Mercer, the LP is not a concept album though, stating: ”A part of this record is deeply fearful, almost paranoid, the sound of a person grinding his or her teeth in the night. But just a part of it. It’s also the sound of the birds in the morning, I hope.”

Carey’s Cold Spring drops on 7 October. Listen to the album’s closer, ‘Claxxon’s Lament’:

And check out its track list below.

1 The Road is Long
2 The Country Child
3 Your Holiday Treat
4 Don’t Give Up Your Dreams
5 Needle in the Sun
6 Noni’s Got a Taste for the Bright Red Air Jordans
7 A Duration of Starts and Lines That Form Code
8 Seven Daughters
9 Claxxon’s Lament

[via Pitchfork]