"Hell freezes over" is rightfully associated with the reunion of a far more successful act. However, the same sentiment applies to the truly, truly improbable announcement of a band reforming (also) 24 years after their demise. But why say in three words when two will do: Holy shit. Or four: Soul Coughing is back! 

The thought of this happening never, ever, ever, entered my mind, much like the band members themselves. Lead singer and guitarist Mike Doughty, on the shortlist of my favorite vocalists, said as much: "The guys in Soul Coughing hated me." Which seems accurate. Apparently, the (brilliant) bass player saw a question posted on Facebook, "Is there ever going to be a Soul Coughing reunion?" and responded with (the also brilliant) "Not unless one of us dies." That one titled his 2012 memoir The Book of Drugs and freely admits "I loved drugs, I loved them."  So yeah, that helps explain...some things. After three records in four years over an eight-year existence, it wasn't exactly internally going well for the self-described "deep slacker jazz" quartet around the turn century.

While Doughty has been slowly incorporating more Soul Coughing material into his solo work, including a 2019 tour in which he played their entire debut, followed by the Ghost of Vroom efforts that were basically Soul Coughing without the other band members, it's still staggering to hear this news. It may never amount to anything more than the upcoming 17 shows, but even if that's it, knowing how excited the man largely responsible for it ending is about the upcoming jaunt, it's heartwarming. 

The musical embodiment of idiosyncratic: Soul Coughing.