Chris Porterfield had a leg up when he started Field Report—he had been in a band called DeYarmond Edison with Justin Vernon, who launched Bon Iver not long after that old band’s breakup. The first Field Report album, a self-titled disc from 2012, was folky and dark; the upcoming Marigolden (out October 7) is more focused and straightforward in its ways, though no less lovely. We’ve got the exclusive debut of the title track below (and you can find tour dates here), and while a lot of the album deals with drinking and loneliness, this one gets a little weirder. Porterfield explained it to us thusly:
“So this song was written while we were making the record. The word ‘marigolden’ showed up while I was doing some writing in studio B while the guys were working. I understand it to refer to a state of sharing characteristics of a marigold, which is a brutish flower found in beds everywhere that smells bad and dies off every year. If you want it back, you have to dig it up now and plant it again later. And it’s a play on being ‘golden,’ which is not that at all. So this whole story came out of that. There’s a lot to unpack, but I’m sure intrepid A.V. Club commenters won’t miss a thing. Here’s a few jumping off points: Jane Harmony (character in the song’s lyrics) is a variety of marigold! The song refers to cottage industry of post self circumcision reconstruction, and the general silliness of male sexuality! Maybe Jane doesn’t exist!”