Today, Portland, OR-based Blitzen Trapper return with a new single, “Cheap Fantastical Takedown,” a trippy slice of cosmic Americana, and their first new studio material since 2020’s Holy Smokes Future Jokes.

A limited edition 12” single featuring “Cheap Fantastical Takedown” and two new songs, “Millions of Billions” and “Ghost & the Snakebite,” will be available exclusively at independent record stores on October 6. Pressed on opaque red vinyl at the state-of-the-art Citizen Vinyl pressing facility in Asheville, NC, the 12” is limited to 500 copies worldwide.

“It’s incredible to get some new music out into the world, it’s been a couple years since Holy Smokes Future Jokes and it’s time,” offers Eric Earley. “This tune, ‘Cheap Fantastical Takedown,’ is a conversation between two lovers at a crossroads, in that place where the fantasies and illusions we build about ourselves and others give way to the hard reality of actual vulnerability and love. It’s a dark tune, written on acoustic guitar at a time when I was struggling to get in touch with my own submerged emotions.” 

Featuring Eric Earley (vocals/guitars); Michael Elson (keys); Brian Adrian Koch (drums); and Anna Tivel and Nathan Vanderpool (backing vocals), the track was recorded by Nathan Vanderpool, mixed by D. James Goodwin, and mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering.

Over a 20-year career and eleven full-length albums, Eric Earley has written, recorded, and toured extensively as Blitzen Trapper, amassing a devoted fanbase and earning critical praise from a vast array of media that includes The New York Times, NPR Music, Rolling Stone Country, Paste, Pitchfork, SPIN, New York Magazine and Consequence of Sound.