The Dead Tongues are returning with the announcement of their fifth album, Dust, today, sharing the eponymous first single “Dust” along with b-side “Ticket.” We’ll be releasing the full record on April 1st.

On his latest effort under The Dead Tongues moniker Ryan Gustafson’s songwriting is impeccable. Dust is both full of incredibly penned songs about reconciling with your past – something the pandemic forced so many of us to face – and looking at what a new future could be. Gustafson uses this process not only to create a stunning new album, but to re-immerse himself in what songwriting can be; discovering beauty in the past and coming to an understanding, a cohesion, with those pasts, the steps taken from then to now and a keen eye on the future he’s building, and the hope and clarity that comes with it.

After five months of not picking up an instrument, Gustafson wanted to get rid of everything that was tied to his identity as a musician. He even thought about changing his name. He was getting ready to throw out old notebooks packed with years of material but, for some reason, he decided to stop and go through them, just to see if there was anything worth saving. And sure enough, he found some images and lyrics, threads from former selves he didn’t want to lose. Thus was the catalyst for Dust, his fifth and best album as The Dead Tongues.

Dust was recorded at Sylvan Esso’s studio, Betty’s, in the woods of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ryan built it out with help from a number of his musician friends – Joe Westerlund (Watchhouse, Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse) on mandolin, backing vocals from Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Molly Sarlé of Mountain Man, among others.