Among the most literary-minded of rock singers these days is Frog Eyes/Swan Lake/Blackout Beach singer/guitarist Carey Mercer. Mercer contributed to the “The Unwritten Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald” series that ran in issue 22 of  McSweeney’s; when I interviewed him in 2011, he said that “I have two novels in me.” It probably doesn’t hurt that he’s an English teacher by day; either way, the man has a a skill with wordplay and textual references that put many to shame. 

Also, this essay, which should be read.

Later this month, a new edition of Frog Eyes’ album Carey’s Cold Spring will be released by Paper Bag Records. (You might want to check out this Carl Wilson piece on the album.) Along with that, Paper Bag will also release a collection of essays from Mercer, titled Clouds of Evil. Needless to say, I’m very excited about this: getting to have Mercer’s prose in hand is something I’ve been waiting for for a long time.

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