{
"path": "/january-24-going-to-kirby-sigston-yk3e174",
"site": "at://did:plc:5qb3ytp5wgwjkmby6ei7emsm/site.standard.publication/3mbple2jf624f",
"tags": [
"This Year"
],
"$type": "site.standard.document",
"title": "January 24 - Going to Kirby Sigston",
"content": {
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{
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"plaintext": "The words that jump into my head when I hear this song for the first time are \"jangly pastoral\". It's upbeat, slightly spiky, and giving a view of a place of if not home then at least rest. Eating cold black eggs all day as the wind kicked up."
},
{
"$type": "blog.pckt.block.text",
"plaintext": "Kirby Sigston is a real place. It's actually where Rishi Sunak currently lives and has a nice if squat Norman church. There's a long history of castles and hunting and churches, none of which is relevant to this song. The Wikipedia page notes that it never had a shop, post office, or pub. A place without a centre and without a story. And that's where John Darnielle steps in."
},
{
"$type": "blog.pckt.block.text",
"plaintext": "Going to Kirby Signston seems to be another song that never found a home. It's as professionally recorded as Noctifer Birmingham, and that's perhaps why John didn't put it on an album until Ghana, as 1994 is still deep in his Tape Era. It's a slice of what the Studio Mountain Goats would be, when they caught up with themselves."
},
{
"$type": "blog.pckt.block.text",
"plaintext": "A song without an album about a town without a nucleus. It's nice to belong. it's nicer to find where you belong."
},
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"attrs": {
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/-qjEjBRbT4g?rel=0&hl=en-US"
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"updatedAt": "2026-01-24T22:52:20+00:00",
"description": "The words that jump into my head when I hear this song for the first time are \"jangly pastoral\". It's upbeat, slightly spiky, and giving a view of a place of if not home then at least rest. Eating cold black eggs all day as the wind kicked up. Kirby Sigston is a real place. It's actually where Rishi Sunak currently lives and has a nice if squat Norman church. There's a long history of castles and hunting and churches, none of which is relevant to this song. The Wikipedia page notes that it never...",
"publishedAt": "2026-01-24T22:43:16+00:00",
"textContent": "The words that jump into my head when I hear this song for the first time are \"jangly pastoral\". It's upbeat, slightly spiky, and giving a view of a place of if not home then at least rest. Eating cold black eggs all day as the wind kicked up.\nKirby Sigston is a real place. It's actually where Rishi Sunak currently lives and has a nice if squat Norman church. There's a long history of castles and hunting and churches, none of which is relevant to this song. The Wikipedia page notes that it never had a shop, post office, or pub. A place without a centre and without a story. And that's where John Darnielle steps in.\nGoing to Kirby Signston seems to be another song that never found a home. It's as professionally recorded as Noctifer Birmingham, and that's perhaps why John didn't put it on an album until Ghana, as 1994 is still deep in his Tape Era. It's a slice of what the Studio Mountain Goats would be, when they caught up with themselves.\nA song without an album about a town without a nucleus. It's nice to belong. it's nicer to find where you belong."
}