Music review: The Mountain Goats

By Logan Nickels, KJHK station manager and rotation DJ

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Sixteen albums. John Darnielle has recorded 16 full albums under the Mountain Goats name. (Plus one unreleased album!) Something gives me the feeling that the sun will implode before he runs out of material.

If you haven’t listened to the older stuff, it sounds like it was recorded on a shitty boombox in a basement, mostly because, well, it was.

The tracks on The Life of the World to Come, however, are recorded with a full drum kit and decent production values, which personally I like a lot less.

Darnielle is a master lyricist, and to me it seems like the shitty boombox amplified his message, while a drum kit and electric guitar seem to dilute it. Something about the low-fi basis of his music made it raw and easily accessible. Any one of us could be that guy sitting in his basement, writing music that changes lives. The hi-fi music seems to put him on an unattainable base, where not just anyone can be that guy.

The good stuff is still there, you just have to search for it a little harder. Despite all the track titles being named after bible verses, the album isn’t really religious, and Darnielle lets his heart shine through yet again.

Verdict: Three stars

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