Genre(s): Avant Prog
Label: Cuneiform Records
Format: CD, digital
Release date: January 30, 2026
Tracklist
1. Dies Irae (3:24)
2. Boys With Toys (1:59)
3. The Lords Of Creation (6:08)
4. Destitution Meal (2:54)
5. Transcience (7:23)
6. Dumbstruck (7:53)
7. The Gardens Of Loss (7:48)
8. Souless In Gaza (8:28)
Total Time 45:57
Credits
Mike Johnson ( Thinking Plague) – guitars, lap steels, fiddle, fretless banjo, sampler-synthesizer programming and "pencil guitars" (7)
With
Simon Steensland – bass (except 7)
Morgan Ågren – drums and percussion (3–6)
Kimara Sajn – drums and percussion (1, 2, 8)
Jeremy Kurn – piano
Elaine diFalco – vocals
Dave Willey – bass, drums (7)
Bill Pohl – guitars (8)
Elise Roy – flutes
Caitlin Hilzer – oboe, English horn
Nuno Mourão – bassoons (3)
Mark Harris – clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone
Shane Endsley – trumpets
Jon Stubbs – trombones
Oene van Geel – violins, "concertmaster"
Pablo Rodriguez – violins
George Dumitriu – violas
Pau Sola Masafrets – cellos
César Puente Sandoval – double basses
All music composed and orchestrated by Mike Johnson.
Lyrics by Mike Johnson except for “Transience” by Elaine diFalco.
Strings and bassoons recorded by Björn Warning at Warning Studios, Amsterdam, Netherlands. warningstudios.nl
Woodwinds and reeds recorded by Loren Dorland at Mighty Fine Studios, Denver, Colorado.
Vocals, drums, basses, guitars, piano, trumpets, trombones, oboes and English horn recorded “at home.”
Mixed and mastered by Colin Bricker and Mike Johnson at Mighty Fine Studios, Denver, Colorado. mfpcolorado.com
Produced by Mike Johnson.
Mixed and mastered by Colin Bricker and Mike Johnson.
Description/Reviews:
Mike is influenced by harmonically adventurous twentieth-century classical music, as can be heard in the ambiguous tonality of the music, and the rigour of his dense, complex compositions. Like many rock musicians he is self-taught, but very knowledgeable, and his fusion of rock and classical music is as seamless as it is compelling and for the first time ever amongst his 8 albums as leader of Plague, he has had the opportunity to use orchestral instrumentation as one of the pillars of this work!
Perhaps this is the reason why this is a Mike Johnson album and not a Thinking Plague album?
Media/Samples
Bandcamp