Goodbye, Killer (released June 15th) by Pernice Brothers is Joe Pernice's first band album since 2006's Live a Little. In several weeks-long bursts of work over the course of a couple of years, in between writing a novel, recording a soundtrack for said novel, touring on both, and doing real-life things, Joe, his brother Bob, and long-time collaborators James Walbourne (Pretenders, Son Volt, Peter Bruntnell) and Ric Menck (Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush) holed up in an attic in Boston and recorded these 10 Pernice originals.

Over a 15-year career in music, Pernice has made 13 full-length records. He began in the mid-90's, with Scud Mountain Boys, who released two albums (Pine Box and Dance the Night Away, later compiled as The Early Year) before signing to Sub Pop and releasing Massachusetts, considered by many to be an alt-country masterpiece. In 1998, Pernice disbanded the Scuds and assembled Pernice Brothers, recording Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop), called "a startling slice of beauty" by The New York Times and "A thing of pernicious beauty indeed" by The Irish Times. In 1999 and 2000, he released two records, under the names Chappaquiddick Skyline and Big Tobacco. (More or less considered solo records, they do feature assorted members of the Pernice family circus, so that designation is a bit misleading. This naming inconsistency also dogs the enterprise to this day, and therefore, Pernice promises to call everything Pernice Brothers from now on, until he changes his mind.)

In 2001, Pernice and his manager decided that they were as capable of not selling many records as anyone. They founded Ashmont Records, releasing a series of Pernice Brothers records, featuring various players, beginning with The World Won't End, which was called a "lush, perfectly realized record" by The Onion (not ironically). 2003 brought the release of Yours, Mine and Ours, called "a monumental record from a tow- ering talent" by Magnet. A live record and DVD, Nobody's Watching/Nobody's Listening was released in 2004. In 2005, Discover a Lovelier You came out, and the song "Amazing Glow" was included in the legendary "Partings" episode of Gilmore Girls. Pernice performed the song on the show. Live a Little, called "a stunning album" by Spin was released in 2006.

In 2009 Joe Pernice published his first novel, It Feels So Good When I Stop (Riverhead/ Penguin), and Ashmont released a soundtrack of the same name, more or less, featuring Pernice covering songs referenced in the novel. (A novella, Meat is Murder, was published by Continuum Books in 2003, as part of their popular 33 1/3 series. It remains one of the bestselling books in the series.)

Goodbye, Killer should appease Pernice fans from all walks of life. It includes the full- on rock ‘n rollers "Jacqueline Susann" and "Bechamel," signature pop songs "The Great Depression" and "Fucking and Flowers," the Scuds-esque "Newport News" and "The End of Faith," and two AM radio would-be classics "The Loving Kind" and "Goodbye, Killer." Pernice refers to the undeniably show tune-y number "We Love the Stage," as his "homage to vaudeville, indie rock and learning to love betting against yourself." (Whatever. Pernice's manager just hopes it's the first song in the musical he and Walbourne are going to write, because she'd love to lose a lot of money producing musicals too.)

Goodbye, Killer is a versatile album that's trademark Pernice.

Performed by Joe Pernice, James Walbourne, Ric Menck and Bob Pernice. Recorded and mix at Upper Ashmont Studios by Bob Pernice. Mastered by Jeff Lipton and Ma- ria Rice at Peerless Mastering. Cameos by Laura Stein (vocals), John Felock (bass), Elizabeth Cheever (trombone).