Constellation Myths - Cost of Living

Constellation Myths release 2nd album, The Cost of Living, July 16

Constellation Myths is guitarist and bassist Josh Goldman, drummer and keyboardist Justin Kehoe, and vocalist Molly Seamans.

Born out of the ash heap of a string of Boston-area indie bands, Constellation Myths is founded on the musical partnership of Goldman and Kehoe and the lyric-writing partnership of Kehoe and Seamans.  The long-time musical collaborators have developed an instinctive musical connection over two-decades of playing together as in prior indie and post-rock bands, including the indie folk pop outfit Tom Thumb and the short lived post-rock band All Combinations. Longtime friends separated by most of the state of Massachusetts, they write and record on their own, at home, away from the noise and smells of the practice space, and the other pressures that can cause bands to sputter and dissolve.

The Massachusetts-based trio are excited to announce the release of their second album. The Cost of Living follows their 2021 debut, Everything and Time, further developing their unique blend of post-rock and Americana. Where their first album looked inward to explore memory and nostalgia; The Cost of Living turns its gaze outward, unfolding in a series of vignettes and character sketches that examine agency, belief, and the tensions between the natural and the human-built environment. A strong sense of place runs through the album–locales such as a mall, a boatyard, an in-law apartment, and a house in the country ground the songs and their subjects in the physical world.As with indie-rock elder statesmen like Jim O’Rourke and Yo La Tengo, alongside current artists like Kurt Vile and Angel Olsen, Constellation Myths employ often subtle experimental touches to complicate and subvert a time-worn singer-songwriter form. The songs combine lyrical pathos with layered vocal harmonies in the mode of artists like Feist, Neko Case, and Weyes Blood. Drawing on strains from indie rock, American primitive folk, post-rock, ambient country, and the introspective spirit of 1970s singer-songwriters, the band has crafted a sound that feels at once familiar and singular.

Beyond the album’s singles, The Cost of Living rewards sustained listening across its 10 tracks. Other key moments include the sprawling mini-epic dirge “Lower,”  the sweet, folky ditty “Vermont,” and the rousing singalong of album finale “The Decisive Moment.”Throughout, the album seeks to reckon with the “thereness” of the world, while reflecting on the complexities of belief and ideology, as well as more prosaic themes like jealousy and failure. The result is an album that is as much about the physical world as it is about the intangible, yet vital, connections that shape our lives. These are songs for anyone who has grappled with displacement, doubt, or change in their own life. The Cost of Living was released on July 16, 2025 and is available on all major streaming platforms. Key tracks include: “Spare Room,” “Shadows on the Wall,” and “A Consolation.”For a deeper dive into the making of the record, including song credits, lyrics, and an idiosyncratic song-by-song oral history, go here.

“The final lyrics for the album were written and recorded about a year ago, in the spring of 2024. While the seeds of our current slide toward right-wing authoritarianism had certainly been planted, looking back now, it seems a more innocent time… at least somewhat. While these songs are not overtly political, there is a preoccupation with things very much at the heart of our current social and political crisis: class resentments, petty jealousies, false prophets, vigilante justice, the warping of our shared sense of reality by a toxic internet culture. If we wrote these songs now, they’d be angrier, more raw and barbed, and less understanding of their characters’ decisions. For that, we’re grateful we were able to write them when we did, at a time when empathy seemed normal and natural.”