O deth, swet deth: February 27, 2026 has arrived, and its dawn heralds the long-awaited return of Crooked Fingers. The Eric Bachmann-led outfit is back today with Swet Deth, Bachmann’s first album under the moniker in nearly 15 years. In full, it’s as complete a portrait of Bachmann as anything he’s released in his career — wry, sad, and sweet, alternately open- and broken-hearted — a portrait that required pushing the sonic envelope of his solo output further than he has in years. Listen to Swet Deth wherever you stream music, or purchase a copy on CD or LP from the Merge store.
Bachmann made the decision to reclaim the mantle of Crooked Fingers when the songs he was writing — all of them preoccupied, in some fashion, with death — called for collaborators. Beginning with drummer Jeremy Wheatley, the room in which Swet Deth came to life grew to include frequent collaborators Jon Rauhouse, Avery Leigh Draut, Skylar Gudasz, and Liz Durrett. Crucially, it came to include The National’s Matt Berninger, who heard the chorus of the then in-process “From All Ways” and asked if he could sing it.
Berninger’s feature — his cool, measured intonation is a counterbalance to the quiet strain in Bachmann’s voice — is one of Swet Deth’s many highlights. It also pushed Bachmann into new creative territory, leading him to ask for features from Sharon Van Etten (“Haunted”) and Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan (“Cold Waves”), giving new shape not just to the songs, but to the notion of what “Crooked Fingers” could be. Swet Deth is about the end of the line, yes, but it’s animated by the freedom Bachmann found in making it, a rave that isn’t ready for the grave.
