| Racing Mount Pleasant | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 15, 2025 (2025-08-15) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 57:30 | |||
| Label | R&R | |||
| Racing Mount Pleasant chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Racing Mount Pleasant | ||||
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Racing Mount Pleasant is the self-titled second[a] album by the American indie bandRacing Mount Pleasant. Following on from their 2022 albumGrip Your Fist, I'm Heaven Bound, it was released on August 15, 2025 on therecord label R&R, and was preceded by three singles. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who frequently compared it to the work ofBlack Country, New Road,Arcade Fire, andBon Iver.
Racing Mount Pleasant formed under the name Kingfisher in 2019 at theUniversity of Michigan;[4] in November 2022, they released their debut albumGrip Your Fist, I'm Heaven Bound.[5] On April 9, 2025, they changed their name to Racing Mount Pleasant, coinciding with the release of the single "Call It Easy".[6] On May 9, they released a second single, the self-titled "Racing Mount Pleasant";[7] it was written before the band's name change.[3] They also announced that they would be releasing an album on therecord label R&R.[7] The single "Your New Place" was released on July 11, accompanied by the announcement thatRacing Mount Pleasant would be released on August 15.[8]
Critics disagree on the genre ofRacing Mount Pleasant. It has been described asbig band,[3]folk rock,[3]indie rock,[9]baroque pop,[10] and a mix ofpost-rock andMidwest emo.[4][1] It has frequently been compared toBlack Country, New Road[1][10][9] andArcade Fire,[4][1][9] as well asExplosions in the Sky[4] andBon Iver.[10][3][1] The album's tracks were written over the course of the band's entire existence; some were omitted fromGrip Your Fist only because they were yet to be recorded.[3] Songs were composed by repeating sections many times until a natural transition to another section manifested.[3]
Racing Mount Pleasant were inspired by memories and looking back on the band's history while composingRacing Mount Pleasant, creating whatStereogum describes as a "miniverse".[3] There are references to other songs throughout the lyrics, instrumentals, and song titles;[3][1] for example, the melody of "Your New Place" is repeated on the closing track, "Your Old Place".[1] The album was recorded in at least six different spaces, including a bandmember's attic and a church.[3]
Racing Mount Pleasant received generally positive reviews from critics. In a review forThe New Yorker,Hanif Abdurraqib drew comparisons between the album and the poem "Katy" byFrank O'Hara, stating that the band had become "quieter and also less silent" since their debut (a reference to the fifth line of "Katy").[4] Abdurraqib did not feel like he had learnt anything by listening to the album, as many of the themes were "unspectacular", but felt "delighted by the experience nonetheless".[4] David Renshaw ofThe Fader praised the album's "grand crescendos fit for cavernous arenas", describing "Your New Place" as "like a garage rock band swapping the dive bar for an orchestra pit".[9] In her interview article of the band forStereogum, Margaret Farrell applauded the album's ability to evoke memories of the past, stating that "these songs move like memory: animated, all-encompassing, unpredictable".[3] Ian Cohen's review forPitchfork was much more mixed; he praised the "panoramic sweep of post-rock" on "Your New Place", but disliked that the album was too similar to bands such asArcade Fire,Bon Iver, andBlack Country, New Road, stating "it sounds like a group working hard to make a cathartic, cleansing instant classic of [an album], but one drawn from memory".[1] Cohen also believed that songs such as "You" and "Call It Easy" didn't have a compelling narrator, describing them as "glacial". However, he concluded that "bands and albums of this nature don't come around all that often".[1]
All lyrics are written by Sam DuBose.[11]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Your New Place" | 7:32 |
| 2. | "Tenspeed (Shallows)" | 3:51 |
| 3. | "Heavy Red" | 1:30 |
| 4. | "Emily" | 5:55 |
| 5. | "Seminary" | 4:56 |
| 6. | "You" | 4:07 |
| 7. | "You Pt. 2" | 4:07 |
| 8. | "Racing Mount Pleasant" | 5:15 |
| 9. | "Call It Easy" | 7:00 |
| 10. | "Outlast" | 5:01 |
| 11. | "34th Floor" | 1:31 |
| 12. | "Seyburn" | 2:12 |
| 13. | "Your Old Place" | 4:33 |
| Total length: | 57:30 | |
Adapted from Bandcamp.[11]