The Afghan Whigs Announce New Album, ‘How Do You Burn?’ With Appearances By Mark Lanegan, Marcy Mays

The Afghan Whigs will release How Do You Burn?, their first album in five years, September 9. The 10-song collection is like an extended family album, with several old friends of the Whigs and frontman Greg Dulli making appearances on the album.

Among them, the most bittersweet is the presence of late Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, who does background vocals on two as yet unnamed tracks. Lanegan and Dulli are of course longtime brothers in arms who had their own band, The Gutter Twins. Dulli said in a press release that it was Lanegan who named the album.

The album also sees the return of vocalist Susan Marshall, who appeared on the band’s stunning 1965 record and toured with the group for that album. Marshall lends her vocals to the impassioned, heavy pace of “Catch A Colt.” Another friend of the band returning to the party is Van Hunt. The vocalist/instrumentalist, who was part of the Do To The Beast tour and album cycle in 2012, comes back to the fray for “Jyja” and “Take Me There.”

For longtime Whigs fans though, the absolute highlight will be the return of Marcy Mays. Mays is a storied part of the Whigs’ more than 30-year lore for her landmark vocals on “My Curse” off the Gentlemen album. Over the years, the occasional appearance of Mays at Whigs’ L.A. shows has sent the crowds into jubilant frenzies. The vocal turn she and Dulli share on the masterful “Domino And Jimmy” will again set the Whigs world ablaze.

“I wrote that song with Marcy in mind,” says Dulli in the press release. “No-one sounds like her; she’s got an incredibly unique, emotional and evocative voice.”

The album’s second single, and video, “The Getaway,” is available today.

The ten songs on the album are

1. I’ll Make You See God

2. The Getaway

3. Catch A Colt

4. Jyja

5. Please, Baby, Please

6. A Line Of Shots

7. Domino and Jimmy

8. Take Me There

9. Concealer

10. In Flames

The Whigs will hit the road next week, starting May 11 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, through June 1 in L.A., where they will join Jack White at the YouTube Theater. Then after a European summer run they will be back in the States from September 9 in Minneapolis through October 12, again in Los Angeles, this time for a headlining date.