Mouse Rat, Chris Pratt’s band in Parks & Rec, releasing debut album

Mouse Rat, the fictional band on NBC’s Parks & Recreation led by Chris Pratt‘s character, Andy Dwyer, made a bunch of appearances on the sitcom over its seven seasons. As did Mouse Rat songs, including “The Pit,” “Anne,” “Sex Hair” and, perhaps most memorably, “5,000 Candles In The Wind (Bye Bye Li’l Sebastian),” an ode to Pawnee’s much loved tiny horse who died in one of the series’ best episodes.

“Li’l Sebastian,” the episode, aired 10 years ago today (5/19) and to celebrate they’ve announced that Mouse Rat’s debut, The Awesome Album, is getting an actual release on August 7 via Dualtone / Entertainment 720 (the company started by Aziz Ansari’s character, Tom Haverford). The Awesome Album features “The Pit,” “5,000 Candles In The Wind,” “Sex Hair,” and other Mouse Rat songs from the series — most of which contain either the lyric “Spread your wings and fly” or “You deserve to be a champion.” (“5,000 Candles In The Wind” almost contains both.) There are 15 songs total, including some guest appearances — “Catch Your Dream” features Duke Silver, aka the sax-playing alter ego of Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), and two songs are performed by Land Ho! who were fronted by Scott Tanner (aka Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy).

With the news of the album, Mouse Rat have released a new lyric video for “5,000 Candles In The Wind” which you can watch below.

Mouse Rat’s The Awesome Album is available for preorder in a few different vinyl variants, as well as CD, and there are some Li’l Sebastian-themed t-shirts as well. Check out the album art and tracklist below.

Tracklist:
01 “5,000 Candles In The Wind (Bye Bye Li’l Sebastian)”
02 “The Pit”
03 “Sex Hair”
04 “Catch Your Dream” (Feat. Duke Silver)
05 “Two Birds Holding Hands”
06 “Ann Song”
07 “The Way You Look Tonight”
08 “Menace Ball”
09 “Remember”
10 “I Get A Kick Out Of You”
11 “Lovely Tonight”
12 “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
13 “I Only Have Eyes For You”
14 “Pickled Ginger” (Performed By Land Ho!)
15 “Cold Water” (Performed By Land Ho!’s Scott Tanner w/ Dick Silver)