The Mountain Goats - Goths

The Mountain Goats are the low running, highly prolific Folk band lead by the legendary John Darnielle.  In the early years with album's like "Zopilote Machine", Darnielle basically WAS the group.  Meaning it was just him and his guitar and a crappy recording device, which often lead to tracks coming out sounding like a cross between Neutral Milk Hotel and Guided By Voices.  Darnielle though had such a blaring, in your face personality that it worked for them.  By the time "Nothing For Juice" came out, The Mountain Goats were well on their way to showing the world what they were capable of.  The production still Wasn't absolutely stunning or perfect.  But it was certainly getting more of where it should be, and they certainly still oozed charisma and personality.  Plus, I loved just how warm some of these tracks came off, such as "Hellhound on My Trail".  Obviously though, Mountain Goats music continued to be very words, but remained seriously engaging and interesting.  "All Hail West Texas" was the band's first true masterpiece.  By this point, Mountain Goats had become so comfortable in their scratchy production that they mastered it.  The result was easily their most consistent album to date, as John Darnielle went deep into stories from his teenage years and earlier that were all so interesting and wonderfully crafted. By the time they released "Tallahassee" though, Mountain Goats had started working with some more cleaner production, and at first, it was seriously ugly.  It was beyond the production's fault however, Mountain Goats on this one just really sounded uncomfortable.  However, they started getting slowly back on track with "We Shall All Be Healed".  While this album wasn't perfect, it showed Mountain Goats hopping on cleaner production and bringing in more eclectic instrumentals and sounding decent.By the time "The Sunset Tree" was released, Mountain Goats had become completely comfortable in their more well produced sound.  This album was easily their warmest and most inviting, and this was as close to a standard folk album as it could be.  Up next, Mountain Goats released "Get Lonely", an album I really needed to sit with.  This album started out a little shaky for my liking, but the raw emotion and thoughts about loss John Darnielle brought in for the second half of the album was incredible.  2011's "All Eternals Deck" really caught me off guard once again, just by how heavy this album was.  I'm not saying this was instrumentally heavy or anything.  But this one was just so hulking in its atmosphere, there were darker tracks and more upbeat tracks as well.  2012's Transcendental Youth" however is an album that I have issues with but also love.  I love the use of a horn section that made tracks like "White Cedar" so huge sounding, but the production on this one sort of irked me.  In 2015 though, Mountain Goats got back on track with the surprisingly VERY solid concept album about Pro Wrestling "Beat The Champ".  So at this point this late into their career, what do Mountain Goats even have left to prove?  Which brings me to this new album, and album that apparently doesn't feature a single guitar.  While I didn't think that sounded very flattering, these first few singles have been great.  Let's chat about this new Mountain Goats album.

Now, going into this album, an album by folk legends not featuring any guitars, I really didn’t know what to expect.  But hearing “Rain In Soho”, all I can say is, if this is the sound of Mountain Goats without guitars, can I have some more?  I love the major focus on these slow and powerful pianos, and even more of the focus on John Darnielle’s vocals.  Also, this atmosphere is seriously heavy.  I forgot just how fantastic The Mountain Goats are when things slow down.  More often than not, Darnielle’s vocals come off so fiery and sinster, and I love it.  The backing vocals here are so haunting, everything about “Rain In Soho” is just so artsy and huge, and fueled by a great atmosphere.  Overall, this is just such a great sound for them, plus Darnell’s lyrical performance is just so memorable and epic.  Plus, I can’t move on without pointing out just how hypnotic this track is, I don’t have a single bad thing to say about it.  Up next is “Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back To Leeds”.  This one right off the bat is so much lighter in feel, even bouncy in a way.  But it works great, and Darnielle continues to seriously nail the Goth culture lyrically.  I gotta give him and The Mountain Goats credit though for sticking with this “No Guitar” sound.  Not only are they sticking with it, they continuously really come off with a very full sound.  I love visuals on “Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds”, mostly of this club Darnielle is describing.  Plus, the very light hearted and sweet atmosphere on this one is made even more breezy by the appearance of the very grandiose horn section.  So far, this album is great.  Plus, conceptually, I feel like this is easier to grasp than the Mountain Goats “Beat The Champ”.  The Mountain Goats up next bring in a dreamy lounge vibe and some very cool synth lines for easily one of my favorite tracks here, “The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement”.  Darnielle here doesn’t sound as aggressive and as fiery as he usually does, on this one he falls back and goes into storytelling mode.  But boy does it ever work for him.  This one also has one of the album’s most memorable choruses in “I’m Hardcore, but I’m not that Hardcore”, backed by wonderfully lush horns that I can’t get enough of.  This album continues to be a remarkably smooth transition for the band.  Not to mention, with the absence of guitars you can seriously focus on Darnielle’s lyrical wizardry.  “We Do It Different On The West Coast” offers up a much more serene and quit sound.  However, I do really love the added funk to this one in those seriously bass heavy grooves.  I love here how Darnielle shouts out these locations, and buddy let me tell you, those things you’ve heard about Long Island are true.  This is easily one of the softest funk jams I’ve ever heard, but it seriously works wonders.  Plus, I really love the way it mixes the album up just enough, and the warm backing vocals here are wonderful.  I honestly didn’t think The Mountain Goats had such a groovy sound to them.  

Out of nowhere, Mountain Goats bust out a surprisingly upbeat track in “Unicorn Tolerance”.  Not for nothing, I think this track is alright, but this really doesn’t fit the mood of this album at all.  The whole “No Guitar” element is totally fine, but here I feel like it seriously hinders this track,  This one would have been so much more enjoyable if it was saved for a more guitar oriented album.  Plus, I dunno, the breeziness of this track makes it fall a little flat for me.  It is certainly catchy though, and I do like the much more upbeat vibe.  However, I think Darnielle’s lyrics save this track from being completely boring. “Stench of the Unburied” on the other hand, is the perfect example of how they can work with this Guitar-less sound and add in a more upbeat groove and have it work.  I love the funky bass line here as well as the very old school synths.  “Stench of the Unburied” is seriously very smooth.  I feel like Darnielle in a really weird way is romanticizing the entire Gothic Culture, and making it seriously beautiful.  His lyrics here deal with being more comfortable in the nighttime, and he does it in just such a skillful way.  Then of course we have the chorus here, which is just this wonderful mission statement for Goth’s, to the point where you can almost feel their pleasure of turning on the radio and hearing Siouxsie and the Banshees.  “Stench of the Unburied” is insanely likable, I really didn’t expect this album to come off nearly as good.  Then we have “Wear Black” and by the time this track hits I have to say, this is seriously absolutely lovely.  There really isn’t many instrumentals here that don’t completely warm my heart to be honest.  I love Darnielle’s much smoother and sweeter vocals here, and the group vocals make this one even warmer at it’s core.  I feel like this album overall is really personal and close to Darnielle as he was writing all of this, diving into every last corner of the Gothic culture.  It works though, because this is by far the most concrete thing The Mountain Goats have done in years.  But this album sure does have a few small hiccups, like “Paid In Cocaine”.  I would certainly say this track still fits the feeling of the album.  But for my liking, this is just a little too sweet and airy for me, to the point where it kinda brings down the feel of the album.  However, being an album all about Goth’s and their culture, this album remains seriously easy on the ears and even easier to enjoy.  My main issue with “Paid In Cocaine” is just how much of a switch up I needed at this point in the album, and it’s really not that at all.  However, Darnielle’s lyrics and storytelling remain on point.  

Thankfully, that switch up that I needed comes soon after with “Rage of Travers”.  This one has the same serene atmosphere we’ve been dealing with, but adds in a little extra oomph with some really funky bass.  “Rage of Travers” really takes its time, really testing some patience during the verses.  This isn’t the best track here, but it’s enjoyable, and Darnielle’s always engaging performance keeps me interested.  Plus, I seriously love the horns on this one.  The amount of details Darnielle puts into his lyrics however, continues to be the real star.  It’s simply massive and amazing, as he describes the look of the people hanging out int he club to the show they witness and further.  “Shelved” on the other hand, has some serious bite to it.  While this track isn’t necessarily heavy, it has the same sort of intensity and artsy vibe that the early tracks on this album had.  This track from start to finish, is absolutely brilliant.  The pulsating synths are just so sinister and add a serious sense of drama to the feel of it.  Darnielle’s performance here is just so passionate and vibrant, these slower tracks seriously brings out his intensity.  Then we have those pounding drums as well as those very retro bass licks, what a tune.   “Goths” as an album is a very visual sounding album, and that goes much further than John Darnielle’s lyrics.  The only track here I really question, is “For the Portuguese Goth Metal Bands”.  To be honest, this is the only track that I seriously dislike from start to finish.  The instrumentals here are just sort of clashing and for the most part are seriously ugly.  Darnielle’s performance isn’t even that memorable either, which his lyrics not coming off nearly as commanding or interesting.  Here, Darnielle’s vocals almost sound shy, and unsure of themselves, which is just awful.  Lyrically, this one even comes off as a rehashing of plenty of other tunes here, I don’t get it one bit.  Thankfully The Mountain Goats and recover with “Abandoned Flesh”.  This track is probably the most necessary track the band needed to end this album with, as The Mountain Goats break out an ode to Goth Icons, from the legendary to the more obscure.  It’s a sweet, quaint finale that puts a big ol’ smile on my face.  Darnielle sounds confident, the horns and atmosphere are warm,  it’s a nice finale to a great Mountain Goats album.  

Rating : 8.1/10

Give A Listen To:  Rain In Soho", "The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement", "Wear Black", Shelved”

Overall Thoughts: Now, if you heard that one of the most iconic Folk groups of this generation were coming out with an album with no guitars, wouldn't you be a little worried?  I sure was.  However, this turned out to be one of John Darnielle and companies most concrete album's in recent memory.  It's a dense and wordy album as usual, but it's also very theatrical and seriously gorgeous.  The Mountain Goats here, do what they do best, and that's take a certain occurrence or culture and paint it in a glorious massive picture.  The culture here, is the Goth culture, a culture that seems close to Darnielle's heart.  The result, is the sweetest and most beautiful album you're every going to hear about Goth Kids.