Kevin Bronson on October 4th, 2016

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“Fire on the Plains” is Matt Kivel’s fourth solo album and second to be released this year, following “Janus,” which came out in February. It features cameos from Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes), Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Sophia Knapp (Cliffie Swan), among others, not to mention wind, rain, water and assorted sounds of nature. And at 82-plus minutes and 26 tracks (including seven interludes and an epic 10-minute closer “Messiah”), it is, depending on your disposition, either a monument to artistic indulgence or the best damned 82-minute temple massage you’ve ever had: musical fingers that work and soothe and work and soothe and every so often send lightning bolts through your brain. It’s gratifying in these times of diminished attention spans that any artist would take The Album so seriously, and Kivel’s undulating trip through existential contemplation is rich with payoffs. Since Princeton — the band he helmed with his twin brother Jesse — went silent four years ago, Kivel has been prolific, juggling songwriting around his day job as a speechwriter, his night job as a slinger of craft beers, his workouts boxing Manny Pacquiao’s gym (see the video for “Permanence”) and his passion project editing his wife’s poetry. So while we suspect he could punch us out with one hand while holding a beer in the other and dictate a better blog post than we could write, it’s best to just share the new video for “Forgiveness,” in which skeleton ladies Chelsea Kirk, Mariel Lacson, Krissy Simon and Nicole Verhamme make us think about stuff. “Fire in the Plains” is out Friday.

||| Watch: The video for “Forgiveness”

||| Also: Watch the videos for “Permanence” (feat Robin Pecknold) and “Water”

||| Live: Matt Kivel celebrates his album release with a show tonight at the Highland Park Ebell Club, joined by Dent May, Sophia Knapp and Daniel T. Tickets include a digital copy of the album and free beer.