Case Oats Announce Debut Album

Recently signed to Merge Records, the Chicago-based alt-country group Case Oats just announced the release of their debut album, Last Missouri Exit. Due out on August 22, the record is a vast collection of character studies. Each song analyzes the memories and relationships that helped shape bandleader Casey Gomez Walker and the other members of Case Oats. The title of the album, for example, comes from Gomez Walker’s first time driving from her hometown to the city of Chicago. Just before she reached the border to Illinois, she noticed a sign for the “Last Missouri Exit.” The memory, she says, is a mental mark of her transition from childhood to adulthood.

Coinciding with the announcement is the release of the band’s sunny new single “Bitter Root Lake.” With driving drums and twangy guitar, Gomez Walker’s country-tinged vocals ring out across the soundscape. A tale of tragic love, the song details a forbidden romance between the narrator and their adventure-seeking muse Diane. Embellished with stacked harmonies, wistful fiddle lines, and a rhythmic interplay of rustic instrumentals, the track is a compelling tall tale, and a perfect one to blast on one of life’s many new journeys.

Joining vocalist Gomez Walker is drummer Spencer Tweedy, guitarist Max Subar, bassist Jason Ashworth, pianist Nolan Chin, and fiddler Scott Danie. The rest of the six-piece’s debut album was crafted in a hot basement in the middle of summer and tracked over the span of three days. “It was intentionally bare-bones. We brought just enough stuff to the basement to be able to record. We were lucky to have played a lot of shows in the months leading up to the session, so we just played like we had been playing, no preciousness,” said Tweedy.