The Mountain Goats new record Goths is a nostalgic concept of sorts, a tribute to the genre that drew him. as with so many other dissafected types in the eighties and nineties, to it in his youth. It's a gentle, idiosyncratic and charming set of songs none of which sound remotely 'gothy', (it's closer to Steely Dan if comparisons must be made), but instead offer a model lesson about how to deal with memories long past, with sweet good humour and fondness. Here's the suite's opening track.
Really gorgeous album. I don't know quite how John Darnielle happened upon this rich vein of lyric and melody, given his lo-fi beginnings, but this phase of his career is a rare treat. He has a really top-notch band now, which probably helps, but he's also discovered this amazing ability for arrangements, which nothing in his early career might necessarily have suggested. And he also manages to write "concept" albums on subjects that I really could not care less about (e.g. wrestling and goths) that completely suck me in. At this point it's very hard to choose a favourite MG album, because there are no so many great ones, although I tend to gravitate toward Transcendental Youth as a pinnacle of sorts. Having said that, the handful of albums that preceded that were all perfect and genius in their own ways.
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