Kentucky Route Zero's Long-Awaited Junebug Album Is Finally Coming Later This Year

Most of the speech in Cardboard Computer's Kentucky Route Zero is handled almost silently—there's a soft click as players select an option, and then the text crawls across the screen. That's part of why Junebug and Johnny, the robotic musical duo players meet in KRZ's third act, make such an impression. Years ago, composer Ben Babbitt said he made an entire Junebug album, and now you can actually pre-order the thing.

Cardboard Computer and Annapurna are collaborating with iam8bit on physical releases for the now-finished KRZ, along with vinyl pressings for the soundtrack and the Junebug LP. First announced back in 2016, shortly after the release of the game's penultimate act, it seems finishing the final installment took precedence.

In an in-depth interview with Cardboard Computer for Act 5's release earlier this year, Babbitt told USgamer that the scene in Act 3 where Junebug performs "Too Late to Love You" became "an impactful kind of creative moment" for him. "Just, you know, finding that voice and making the song for that scene and how it all felt when it came together and the way that people responded to it," said Babbitt. "It was really encouraging."

Cardboard Computer released another Junebug song, "Static Between Stations," with a live action music video in 2016. The complete Too Late to Love You LP will include 11 songs.

You won't need to have a record player to jam out to Junebug's moody electropop—on Twitter, Babbitt promises that a digital release of the LP will also be made available. At iam8bit, the estimated delivery window for both the vinyls and for the Switch and PS4 physical editions of Kentucky Route Zero is listed as Q3 2020. Pre-orders for all of those will close at the end of the month.