Penguin Here! While I develop my musical chops to the point where they can be presented to the public, I'll mostly be writing ABOUT music. Lots of fun albums coming! Kimya Dawson, Joanna Newsom, Baby Dee, Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, and others will be releasing albums this year. Until then, lets take a trip back to 2004, when the Mountain Goats' equivalent of a musical epiphany was released.
Riding on the heels of the success of 2002's "Tallahasee" One of John Darnielles'(Head man of the mountain goats) MANY concept albums, this one about his famous "alpha couple", about whom he is rumored to have written upwards of 50 songs, John was ready for a change.
The mountain goats are one of the most prolific bands in music. John started making albums under this name in 1991. The songs recorded in this time period, which spans all the way to "Tallahassee", were recorded on a boombox in his living room. He seemingly never stopped recording, and by 2004 had 11 full lengths, 21 eps, and 3 compilation albums under his belt. But all these songs, all 700+ of them, were not about HIM. His frantic, literate lyrics usually described down on their luck couples, vagabonds, metalheads, and all other types under the sun. 2004 changed all that.
In "we shall all be healed", John finally breaks down to write of his own experiences, which are jolting and heartbreaking enough to fit right in with his many characters. The album describes many months he spent in Belgium in his teen years, living in a small, rented shack, smoking methamphetamine with friends. His time there, as he describes it in these songs, was full of humor, heartbreak, love, hate, death, and memories, both good and bad.
Song by Song review.
Slow West Vultures: The album starts out triuphantly, with John Furiously Strummed Guitar, mixed with strangely arranged strings and marching band-esque drums. In a Nasally growl, he describes his arrival in Belgium, and the wild panic the group felt, hyped up on meth and youth.
Palmcorder Yajna: The Mountain Goats old boom-box fuzz makes a reappearance for this song. John sings here from the point of you of a friend, who's declining mental state makes him begin to question life, and fills him with disdain for the situation he finds himself in.
Linda Blair Was Born Innocent: A tribute to his friends who died in the the throws of drug addiction, John here shows the hopeful youthfulness that was trapped inside each of them, only to have it needlessly taken away.
Letter From Belgium: John again. takes the form of a friend to construct a letter home from Belgium, full of surreal imagery, which under it has a sinister, worried air, almost as if he's crying for help. Johns fuzzy yell is in top form here.
The Young Thousands: This track displays his worry for the new generation, and has a poetic warning for all new drug addicts. Of note here is Johns triplets on his guitar, which show his interest, and former involvement, in heavy metal music.
Your Belgian Things: After one of the groups meth labs exploded, the gig was up. John writes of how no situation like theirs can ever hold up. He also shows genuine love and affection for his companions in this track, and longs for his former girlfriend, with noone to help in his time of need.
Mole: After getting clean, john visits one one of his several still addicted friend in an IC unit, recalling the naivety of his time in Belgium, and wishing better for his friend.
Home Again Garden Grove: Returning in his memory to Belgium, John talks of his time there in graphic detail, using jarring imagery to illustrate the pain felt by all there for the loss of their innocence.
All Up The Seething Coast: John describes a relapse several years on, using increasingly strange language to illustrate is paranoia, and his desperate shame during this time. This is one of the few MG songs to feature finger picking.
Quito: In this song, which recalls his early, more upbeat tracks, john talks about his recovery, or rather its attempt, and thinks about the days to come.
Cotton: In this, a kind of summing up of the album, John talks about leaving the past behind him and moving on with his life, in a landscape of shimmering pianos, warm electric guitar, and experimental drums courtesy of John Wurstenburg.
Against Pollution: John takes the roll of a friend one more time, taking a look at the life of one of the few that didn't end up dead or in jail. It chronicles his murder in self defense of an armed robber and his conversion to Catholicism. The references to religious imagery here are a foreshadowing of johns increasing interest in the subject, leading to his 2009 Christianity inspired album "The Life Of The World To Come".
Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into The Water, The Triumph Of; In this, the final song on the album, John Takes The form of a Biblical demon, begging not to be returned to hell. Its a strange, but fitting ending, to this triumphant album.
There you go panda! I know it ran on and on, but it felt REALLY good to finally talk about my thoughts on music! I promise the next one wont be so long! Love you! ^^.
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