EXCLUSIVE: HORSEBATH Premiere 'Train to Babylon' and Announce Forthcoming Debut Album

Exciting news country lovers! Canada's finest alt-country exponents HORSEBATH will release their debut album, Another Farewell, on 7th February 2025 via Strolling Bones Records. The Halifax, Nova Scotia and Montreal, Quebec-based band’s 10-song debut was co-produced by the band and Niall Mutter and was recorded by Gilles Castilloux at The Treatment Room in Montreal.

Ever since Jimmie Rodgers picked up a guitar on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and became "The Singing Brakeman" in the 1920s, country singers have been writing and singing songs about their enduring love affair with locomotive, and it's the rhythms of the railways that drive HORSEBATH's new single, 'Train to Babylon.' A cosmic country take on the classic train song that mixes the dirty, sloppy country blues of Exile On Main Street with the frenetic garage rock energy of The Make-Up as the band take stock of the tolls that a life on the road takes on all those who choose it.

"I can hear that whistle blowing / You know we did the best we could / Down the tracks a heart is rolling / Down the hill and gone for good."

“Canada is so spread out,” says the band’s Dagen Mutter. “We spent a lot of time driving all night just for the sake of adventure. Honestly, that’s where a lot of the songs start. You’re in your own thoughts with your eyes on the road, and you just start humming.”

"We found ourselves in a rolling energy and had this image in mind of a train picking up speed as the song follows," Mutter says of 'Train to Babylon'. "It's an upbeat farewell with eyes on the track ahead."

"It was one of those songs that came passing through," Daniel Connolly from the band adds. "The melody felt good so we jotted some words down and let it roll."

Listen to 'Train to Babylon' exclusively on Holler below

The band formed in 2021 and currently includes Daniel Connolly, Etienne Beausoleil, and brothers Keast and Dagen Mutter (with brother Niall co-producing their debut).

Taken from their forthcoming debut, Another Farewell reflects the dizzying breadth of their interests: the Tex-Mex rhythms of the Sir Douglas Quintet, the cowpoke eccentricities of Lee Hazlewood, the cosmic country of Gram Parsons, the somber self-reflection of Leonard Cohen, the out-of-time storytelling of The Band.

HORSEBATH also recently entered Sud-Quest Recording Service in Montreal, Quebec and performed the track live as well. See the performance, filmed and edited by Laura-Lynn Petrick

Watch 'Train to Babylon' Live at Sud-Quest Recording Service below

Another Farewell will be available on 7th February 2025 across digital platforms, compact disc and black vinyl and is available for pre-order here