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Mike Chick is happy to announce the new LP Congarts, due out via Mint 400 Records on April 17th. Congarts is the latest solo LP from Chick, the Asbury Park, NJ musician who is also a member of the critically lauded band Yawn Mower. The new LP follows Chick’s 2023 solo LP More Thrills, Less Hills and flows in a similar way, kind of like a mixtape or playlist you would make for a friend. Congrats draws from a diverse palette of sounds, from drum machine and combo organ fueled tracks, to a rock song about spiders, acoustic songs and an intermission featuring crickets recorded in Chick’s backyard. Today Chick shares the new single “Atom Bomb” along with the b-side and Guided By Voices cover “Teenage FBI”.
“‘Atom Bomb’ was the voice memo that turned into the blueprint for Congarts, shares Chick, “It was one of the first songs recorded, along with ‘Tomorrow Is All A Blur’. These were supposed to be released as a single and b-side, but I liked how they both came out so much, I figured I would keep writing and recording and see where it goes. Some time later we have Congarts, my third LP.”
Congarts was mixed by Rudy Meier (Bristler, Yawn Mower) and recorded mostly by Chick at Waving Cat from Summer 2024 to Fall 2025, in between working on the latest Yawn Mower LP and other projects/pursuits. “I just came to the point where I wanted to be working on music all the time,” says Chick about his recent prolific output. “I don’t want to take any breaks from it. If I’m not writing or recording with Yawn Mower, I want to be working on at least demos of my solo songs. I’ve learned a lot in regards to the process of recording over the last few years and am grateful to have a setup that allows me to record whenever I find the time. I consistently chipped away at Congarts for a few hours here and there, and before you knew it the thing was almost done.” The LP was mastered by Pat Noon at eightsixteen recording.
The album features the vocals of Martin Howth (A Real Human Jazz Band) on all tracks. “I’ve been a fan of Martin Howth’s since the first time I saw her perform,” says Chick. “The first song we worked on was a cover of The Minutemen’s ‘Corona’ for a Mint 400 Records comp, then we did ‘Atom Bomb’ and ‘Tomorrow Is All A Blur’. We got halfway through the record and at that point I didn’t want to hear the rest of the songs without her voice on them.”
Congarts also features Bob Paulos (Neon Rayon, Shut Up) on drums / engineering on “There’s a Spider” and guitar / synth on a cover of Guided By Voices’ “Teenage FBI”, the b-side of “Atom Bomb”. “When I was writing ‘Spider’, says Chick, I felt like it wasn’t going to be a drum machine song and needed some Bob Paulos drums. We recorded the drums at Waving Cat and tried to catch the sound of the room with a limited amount of microphones. Bob ripped on this one. He did exactly what needed to be done.”
Finally, Nicole Scorsone contributed an orchestra of violin and viola on “King of Cool”. “Nicole came in one rainy day and built a beautiful wall of sound for the track,” shares Chick. “If you put on headphones you can hear the rain on the track. There are sounds like that throughout the record. I’m a fan if a train going by or the rain gets recorded. It all adds to the vibe of the record.”
Congarts will be released on all streaming services on April 17th via Mint 400 Records.
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