Ben Weasel has announced the names of the co-conspirators for his upcoming sophomore solo album, These Ones Are Bitter. The album is his first solo outing since 2002's Fidatevi.

For the record, Weasel has recruited bassist Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio as well as two members of he All-American Rejects: Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor. Kennerty also acted as producer.

He has also posted a brief update on the status and sound of the record:

Using my past records as a measuring stick, it's more in the melodic/poppy My Brain Hurts camp than, say, Wiggle or Emo. Lyrically, most of the songs involve the ugly break up of a relationship (hence the title) though there a couple of sidetracks. It's very polished and produced but not really in a Bark Like A Dog way. I think "Bitter" is more aggressive than that one. I Love Bark like A Dog but this one has a different feel and sound.

When I say the album is "polished" I mean the performances are really tight and there was a significant amount of time spent on the tracking as compared to almost all of the other albums I've worked on (because we got most of the studio time for free…). When I say it's "produced" I mean there are rhythm guitar parts that play off each other more than just playing the exact same parts, and there are a lot of little ambient guitar parts and layered backing vocals, things like that. Basically, there was a ton of time and effort put into the recording as compared to any other record I've done and I think the songs come off much better for it.

Ben will be appearing at the recently announced - and even more recently sold out - Insubordination Fest. The record is due out in June via Ben's new digital label Mendota Recording Co.