''Glean'' is the seventeenth studio album from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

, released on April 21, 2015. It is composed entirely of releases from the first four months of the band's 2015 Dial-A-Song project.

Background

In late 2014, the band began advertising the relaunch of their Dial-A-Song service, which had its origins in the early 1980s when the band would record songs onto an

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

and advertise the phone number. The service was eventually discontinued in 2006, but the band sought to restart it online. A modified version of the original phone number was reclaimed as well, and both outlets were updated every Tuesday with a new recording starting in December 2014. Also announced in late 2014 was the return of Instant Fan Club, a year-long subscription service offered by the band upon each of their studio album releases since 2011. Among the products promised to members were free digital downloads of all Dial-A-Song releases, CD copies of the band's upcoming rock and children's albums, as well as LP copies of each for "Super President" tier members. This marked the announcement of the band's 17th (13th rock album) and 18th (fifth children album) albums. In mid-February, They Might Be Giants announced details on their upcoming rock album, including the title, some tracks, and the release date. "Erase", which was released in January as the first Dial-A-Song track of 2015, was announced to be the lead single off ''Glean''.

Release

''Glean'' was released on April 20, 2015 in Europe on

Lojinx Lojinx is a British independent record label and music publishing company established in 2004 in South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of En ...

and April 21 in America on the band's own Idlewild Recordings. CD and vinyl editions were included, along with digital releases of the album, and the original releases of the songs via the Dial-A-Song service. Instant Fan Club members received CD copies of ''Glean'' upon its release. Super President tier members received copies with the booklet signed by both

John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York–based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Earl ...

and

John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...

. Australian copies came with a bonus CD of the ''Flood Live In Australia'' album, containing the entire ''Flood'' album performed live in reverse running order.

Track listing

Personnel

They Might Be Giants

– vocals, guitars, etc. *

– vocals, keyboards, woodwinds, etc.

Backing Band

Marty Beller Martin A. Beller (born July 10, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter. He is the current drummer for They Might Be Giants since Dan Hickey's departure in 2004. He has recorded two solo albums and has contributed writing and vocals for thre ...

– drums, percussion *

Danny Weinkauf Daniel S. Weinkauf (born December 4, 1963) is an American musician and composer. He has been the longtime bassist for They Might Be Giants (TMBG). He has recorded and toured with the band since the late 1990s. Weinkauf had previously performed ...

– bass * Dan Miller – guitars

Additional musicians

* Dan Levine – trombone on 3, 4, 14 * Curt Ramm – trumpet on 3, 4, 14 *

Stan Harrison Stan Harrison (born December 8, 1953) is an American saxophonist who is also accomplished in playing other woodwind instruments, namely the French horn, flute and clarinet. He has also written music for television. Harrison released his first solo ...

– saxophones on 4, 6, 14 *

Rob Moose Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar. Early life and education Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connec ...

– violins on 4, 6, 9

Production

Pat Dillett Patrick Dillett is a 4 x Grammy winning New York based record producer, mixer & sound engineer. He is known for his working relationships with David Byrne, Donald Fagen, Nile Rodgers, and Thomas Bartlett a/k/a Doveman. He has worked with notab ...

– co-producer, mixing * Jon Altschuler – engineer * UE Nastasi – mastering *

Paul Sahre Paul Sahre (born 1964) is an American graphic designer. He has designed book covers and created numerous illustration for ''The New York Times.'' Biography Sahre (pronounced say-er) was born in Johnson City in upstate New York, and received ...

– design; space and fist illustrations * Jason Fulford – photography * Frank H. Netter – salivary glands illustration

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums Idlewild Recordings albums Albums produced by Pat Dillett They Might Be Giants albums Lojinx albums