Mountains
* The Mountain Goats: Tallahassee (5.5 mb) | No Children (4.0 mb) | Oceanographer’s Choice (5.5 mb)
From Tallahassee : 4AD : CAD2215CD
After 10+ years and countless lo-fi boombox recordings, The Mountain Goats shocked the world over (or maybe just me) by signing to 4AD Records and recording in a proper studio. When I first heard this news, I had immediate thoughts of “sell-out” ringing in my mind. I mean, it’s hard to imagine 4AD, with artists such as The Cocteau Twins, Red House Painters and This Mortal Coil being even remotely interested in the music of John Darnielle (the brain trust behind The Mountain Goats). I’d grown so accustomed to hearing his songs (a fantastic storyteller, brimming with wit and bizarre metaphors) with the requisite tape hiss and recording noises that I couldn’t imagine them without it.
But, upon first listen to Tallahassee, Mr. Darnielle won me over and showed me the errors in my thinking. With this album he manages a complete song-cycle concerning the Alpha’s, a fictional couple that he’s written about on and off since he first started writing songs. He follows their life from first love to a relationship degraded by life. And while the songs sound clearer and have extra instrumentation, the most important part of his songwriting, the lyrics, remain the same.
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