Young Fresh Fellows' first new album in five years gets wide release in March

Following the exclusive limited edition LP release for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025, Seattle band Young Fresh Fellows' new studio album, Loft, will see a wide release on March 27. Marking the veteran alt-rock group's first new studio album since 2020’s Toxic Youth, the second track from the album, “Destination” feat. Neko Case is out now; listen here.

Of “Destination,” Scott McCaughey says, “Neko originally came over to sing harmonies. We worked on it for a couple of hours, and she sang all the way through the song. Later, when I was mixing, I muted my vocal just to see what would happen—and suddenly the song made more sense. It wasn’t a plan. It didn’t feel like a “feature.” It just sounded better. Eventually we put my voice back in on the choruses, but she’s clearly the lead. It’s probably the first official Fellows song where that’s the case, and I’m totally fine with that.” Check out the previously released track “I’m A Prison” lyric video here.

Recorded at Wilco’s famed Loft studio in Chicago, the members - Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Baseball Project, R.E.M.), Kurt Bloch (Fastbacks, Filthy Friends), John Perrin (NRBQ, JD McPherson), and Jim Sangster (Tripwires, Roy Loney) - enlisted GRAMMY Award-winning producer/engineer Tom Schick (Wilco, Mavis Staples, Iron and Wine) to helm the board.

They later invited Neko Case (lead vocals on “Destination”), John Stirratt (Wilco; harmony vocals), Morgan Fisher (Mott the Hoople; keyboards), Jonathan Segel (Camper Van Beethoven; violin), Jenny Conlee (The Decemberists; accordion, harmony vocals), Mark Greenberg (Eleventh Dream Day; vibraphone), Peter Buck (R.E.M.; 12-string guitar), and Dave “Max” Crawford (Poi Dog Pondering; trumpet) along.

Fully formed in Seattle in 1983 by McCaughey, Sangster, Chuck Carroll, Tad Hutchison, Young Fresh Fellows became an unexpected college-radio favorite with their 1984 debut The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest, now regarded as a key release of the early Seattle music scene. Read Split Tooth Media’s 2024 oral history of the band here.

Tour Dates:

April 9 – Mississippi Studios – Portland OR
April 10 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle WA
April 12 – Spanish Ballroom – Tacoma WA

Track listing:

1.Overture
2. I’m a Prison
3. Killing Time in Union Square
4. Three Gasconading Saints
5. Before the Deluge
6. Death Becomes Us
7. Entr’acte
8. Books Don’t Burn Twice
9. Destination
10. Whispering Hole
11. 1987
12. Harpoon in the Hay
13. Exit Music/The Theme