The Sound of The Union of a Man and a Woman (Reissue)

The Sound of The Union of a Man and a Woman (Reissue)

The Union Of A Man And A Woman  

The Sound of The Union of a Man and a Woman (Reissue)

JAG009
Released: June 5, 2026

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FORMATS:
Standard Black LP

  1. [The Union of a Man and a Woman]
  2. Battered Children Twirling Battered Batons
  3. Sixteen Cars Collide
  4. Grand Design
  5. Cut to Fit the Mouth
  6. Sing Along Your Heart Out
  7. [Shortwave]
  8. An Oscar De La Renta
  9. Are Your New Shoes Fit for the New Dance
  10. Distant
  11. [One Red Light]
  12. One Red Light, One Green Light, Two Cars Drive, Cars Collide

The Union of a Man and a Woman announce a reissue of their only released album, 1998’s The Sound of The Union of a Man and a Woman, out on June 5. This reissue is the second of a series of reissues to celebrate Jagjaguwar’s 30th Anniversary, with the label revisiting ‘The Virginia Years’ and follows the release of the label’s second ever album, A Derby Spiritual, the 1996 debut from Richmond band Drunk.

Blistering avant-punk made by Virginia teens, The Sound of the Union of a Man and a Woman tore its way into Charlottesville legend in 1998. Formed by Neil Campbell, John Harouff (now recording as JH Burns) and Kurt Beals (a founding member of Pterodactyl) while still high school students, The Union of a Man and a Woman signed to Jagjaguwar after just one open mic performance, witnessed from behind the venue’s sound board by label founder Darius Van Arman.

The band came into full focus on their debut (and only) album, careening from Big Black-style abrasion to the stretched-out art-rock of the Dead C. Coming in white hot with a raw, uninhibited spirit only available to us in those treacherous and glorious late teenage years, and it sounds as fresh as it did then.

“This album never would have existed if it weren’t for Darius and the Tokyo Rose, so we’re excited to see it out on vinyl now to celebrate Jagjaguwar’s 30th anniversary,” says the band.

The anniversary celebration will continue throughout the year with special reissues of South 1998’s South (1998) and Manishevitz’s Grammar Bell and the All Fall Down (1999), with further details to be announced soon.

Jagjaguwar began in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1996, when University of Virginia student Darius Van Arman started the label using overtime pay earned during a blizzard to release Bombay Aloo by The Curious Digit. Not long after, Richmond band Drunk came through town to play local sushi-restaurant-slash-DIY-venue, Tokyo Rose, and Van Arman signed them on the spot, making A Derby Spiritual the label’s second release. Early Jagjaguwar records from artists like The Union of a Man and a Woman, South 1998, Patrick Phelan, Manishevitz, Bevel, Sarah White, Parker Paul and The Curious Digit emerged from a tight-knit community of musicians orbiting Charlottesville’s DIY scene.

In 1999, Darius Van Arman relocated to Bloomington, Indiana and partnered with the founders of Secretly Canadian, laying the groundwork for what would eventually become Secretly Group. Jagjaguwar has continued to grow since then, but the spirit that shaped those early Charlottesville releases still runs through the label today. Thirty years on, that same restless energy connects the earliest Jag records to the current roster, which includes artists like Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Angel Olsen, Chanel Beads and Gia Margaret.

Jagjaguwar is for lovers.