One-time Soul Coughing singer Mike Doughty has maintained for years now that his tenure in the group was pretty much hell, and that the work he produced on records like Ruby Vroom and El Oso is absolutely not, in any way, what he wants to be known for. Still, fans cling to tracks like “Circles” and “Super Bon Bon,” so Doughty has launched a PledgeMusic campaign to raise money to re-record the songs in the manner he originally envisioned—before, as he says in a press release, “they entered the dysfunctional fray of the band.”
Doughty’s written a whole explanation of how he came back to the songs on the PledgeMusic site, but basically it boils down to a period of self-reflection surrounding the writing of his recent memoir, The Book Of Drugs, and trying to figure out who he was back in the '90s. He says he imagines the new versions of these songs with more touches of hip-hop, house, and avant-garde jazz, and that ultimately, he wants to make them more “hearable” (whatever that means).
Donors to the campaign can pre-purchase copies of Reimagined: “Super Bon Bon,” “Circles,” and 11 More Soul Coughing Songs, as well as things like exclusive T-shirts, private Skype listening sessions, and even the laptop Doughty used to write his latest solo effort. The record should be out later this fall.