August 29, 2009

i used to live here :: New from the Mountain Goats

tmg

I am spending a quiet San Francisco morning here in this high rise building, the sun and the clear breeze from the outside coming in the open patio door, along with the faint smell of cigarette smoke drifting from a neighboring porch. I am listening to, and completely fascinated by, the new album coming from The Mountain Goats and the pen of John Darnielle.

I’ve long been fascinated by the thoughtful, turbulent, honest undertones of faith that can permeate Darnielle’s songwriting.

Lines like these intense ones from “Love, Love, Love” have always revealed a fluency in the language of Biblical allegory and wrestles with theological concepts with transparent authenticity. The newest album, The Life Of The World To Come goes even more deeply than he ever has before. Every song on the album is named for a Bible verse reference, but it is “less a profession of religious faith than an immersion in Biblical poetry and imagery,” and these songs “take their names from verses that informed or inspired them, or which, sometimes, came up against them at right angles.” I expect, and get, honesty from Darnielle here.

Genesis 3:23 – The Mountain Goats

Somewhere in between 2007 and 2009 the same stuff started happening in John Darnielle’s life that happens in everybody else’s life: some people got sick, and some people stayed sick, and some people died young, and John started doing what he does when things go south, i.e., turning to old religious texts both musical & otherwise and trying to take comfort in creeds and prayers that he can’t wholly buy into. In what friends (wrongly, in John’s opinion) thought an excessive gesture, he bought an Amy Grant box set. He learned about an amazing songwriter named Rich Mullins, who largely gets overlooked by people who don’t listen to Christian music, and he listened to Vaisnava Kirtans, and he listened to Yolanda Adams. He played hymns when he could, and he prayed the odd prayers of the faithless, and then sat down and wrote songs about what happens when you feel sick in your spirit but you’re not sure if “spirit” is really a meaningful term.

The songs that flowed out of him to make this album brewed from all of these influences converging in his time of need. He dug deeply into his longstanding love of the Bible, and tried to write honestly about wanting to believe. The songs that came out are about losing people you love, and leaving places to which you can’t return, and about things from which people don’t & can’t recover. They are about faith and doubt and the long dark hallways that run between the two.



I am completely intrigued. First listens are gorgeous, laden more heavily with piano than ever before, and most of all — what I want in any exploration of matters of the heart and soul: honesty.

The Life Of The World To Come is out October 6th on 4AD Records.

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7 Comments

  • Your review has me extremely excited about this album. I love Darnielle’s allegory and Biblical imagery, especially since it comes from someone who self-admittedly doesn’t “believe” but wants to. It feels honest and passionate. Can’t wait to give The Life Of The World To Come a spin.

    matt cleveland — August 29, 2009 @ 7:40 pm

  • [...] at Fuel/Friends, Heather has a new track from the upcoming CD by The Mountain Goats, news that can only be described as [...]

    Wings For Wheels » Blog Archive » “I Broke Free On A Saturday Morning…” — August 30, 2009 @ 7:55 am

  • Am listening to the song now and it sounds great! I can’t wait for the album :)

    Caz — August 30, 2009 @ 12:23 pm

  • Is that quote from the press release? I’m super excited for this record because it’s the kind of record concept I always thought about doing myself!

    Wooden Sword — August 31, 2009 @ 11:21 am

  • yes, the italics quote is from the press release. pretty fascinating, eh?

    browneheather — August 31, 2009 @ 6:09 pm

  • Yay for more Mountain Goats! I’m glad I found this blog.

    Btw, I’ve been recording my own music from Korea. Please check it out: http://www.emeraldelk.com
    I hope you’ll let me know what you think.

    -Ryan

    Ryan — September 1, 2009 @ 8:04 pm

  • Sounds like a great “deep” album. I look forward to hearing it!

    Marc — September 1, 2009 @ 10:32 pm

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Bio Pic Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
Giving context to the torrent since 2005.

"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
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