In an age of Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, the understated talent of a lone man with an acoustic guitar often goes underappreciated. However, since their inception in 1991, The Mountain Goats have been breathing new life into indie folk music, and have recently started to make their music accessible to a wider fan base.
The Mountain Goats were formed in Claremont, Calif., in 1991 by singer−songwriter John Darnielle. Humorously, the name "The Mountain Goats" was for years somewhat of a misnomer, as Darnielle was long the band's sole member. Though Darnielle remains the only core artist in The Mountain Goats, in 2002 he began to collaborate with a number of different artists, including bassist Peter Hughes and drummer Jon Wurster of Superchunk. This change in approach dovetailed with Darnielle's transition away from the "militantly lo−fi" sound that defined his music in the '90s, as he began recording in a studio with a full band.
A number of fans have frowned upon this change by claiming that it took some of the intimacy out of the music and removed some of the band's low−key originality. However, this really couldn't be further from the truth. With their 2011 release of "All Eternals Deck," The Mountain Goats prove that they are finally using their new, cleaner sound to its full advantage, while keeping the band feeling like every fan's favorite Sunday afternoon coffeehouse group.
The Darnielle−Hughes−Wurster trio, which has now produced its third album under the Mountain Goats moniker, just now seems in tune with the musical contributions of each member. Darnielle in particular seems notably more comfortable working in a group — even on the group's last album, "The Life of the World to Come" (2009), the music revolved primarily around Darnielle, with the other band members barely coming in as accompaniment. Now, on tracks like "Outer Scorpion Squadron" and "Age of Kings," the newly unveiled richness of Darnielle's voice weaves around careful layering of violin, piano and cello that would have been unimaginable in any of The Mountain Goats' previous work.
Like all of The Mountain Goats' previous albums, "All Eternals Deck" derives its magic from Darnielle's incredible insights and powers of observation. Instead of focusing on life's drama or bombast, Darnielle finds more than enough material in micro−moments and moods that that majority of us fail to even notice, much less articulate. The abandoned possessions of a loveless couple get the spotlight in jaded, punk jam "Estate Sale Sign," and a town's chronological and physical isolation is emphasized in "Sourdoire Valley Song" when Darnielle sings of how "the grass grows up, to cover up, the fire pit and the forge," while surrounding himself with understated, delicate guitar and Wurster's minimalistic drumming.
Indeed, by this point in his career, Darnielle has made into a veritable art the creation of understated but completely heart−wrenching one−liner gems that take effect almost as an afterthought. Take, for example, "Birth of Serpents." On first listen, it is easy to get lost in the song's poppiness, and in the sauntering sway of the rhythm between the chimey guitar and the carefully off−beat guitar. Then, you start to feel the emotional impact of the lyrics — lines like "See that young man who dwells inside his body like an uninvited guest" and "Never forgot what it felt like to live in rooms like these," hit hard, and register just before the song's folky, surf−rock outro.
Many of The Mountain Goats' most successful songs have focused on the past's influence on our present, and on our often−unsuccessful attempts to "rig a blanket curtain/ up between the present and the past," as Darnielle sings on "For Charles Bronson." This long−percolating theme in Darnielle's music is now the primary focus of "All Eternals Deck," with each song, in one way or another, pushing the listener to reflect, analyze and move on from the memories that pull him backward.
"Never get away, never get away, I am never ever gonna get away from this place" is one of the last lines of the last track on the album, "Liza Forever Minelli." Though The Mountain Goats never claim that we can fully escape our pasts, their music does provide plenty of insight — and example — on how to stay true to one's roots while progressing forward.
