Less than three days after a doctor predicted he would never play music again, Scott McCaughey began writing his next album — while still in the ICU, unable to speak coherently, his right side just waking from paralyzation.

In November 2017, the Northwest underground stalwart suffered a stroke that nearly killed him and wiped his entire musical catalog (including the Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M., and many more) from his memory. But instead of wallowing in misery, McCaughey channeled his omni-positive spirit and began to write down whatever incoherent thoughts crossed his mind. He turned those stream-of-consciousness notebook pages into his 13th full-length Minus 5 release, Stroke Manor.

The album is a capsule of weeks in a hospital bed and recovery back at his Portland home, where he recorded the album with significant contributions from Peter Buck, Joe Adragna, Jeff Tweedy, and more. The results are often head-scratching, tongue-tying spats of confusion, as the lyrics nudged him to experiment with voice-altering effects, to match the singular new outer-space characters he felt he was singing as.

1. Plascent Folk 2. My Collection 3. Beacon From RKO 4. Bleach Boys & Beach Girls 5. My Master Bull 6. Beatles Forever (Little Red) 7. Message Of Mother 8. Well In Fact She Said 9. MRI 10. Pink Bag For Rip Torn 11. Scar Crow 12. Goodbye Braverman 13. Top Venom

Tracklist:

Plascent Folk
My Collection
Beacon From Rko
Bleach Boys & Beach Girls
My Master Bull
Beatles Forever (Little Red)
Message Of Mother
Well In Fact She Said
Mri
Pink Bag For Rip Torn
Scar Crow
Goodbye Braverman
Top Venom

UPC: 634457265929
Label: Yep Roc Records
Release Date: 4.13.19
Format: CD

The Minus 5 - Stroke Manor (RSD 2019)