The Mountain Goats Stay True to Their Style Even with Increased Publicity

This is a music review I had to write for my journalism class on one of my favorite bands. Enjoy!

Since the early 90s, The Mountain Goats, an indie rock band centered around the poetry of frontman John Darnielle, have set a standard for themselves focusing on the power of their lyrics. To promote the release of their 17^th studio album, The Life of the World to Come, last October, The Mountain Goats did something they had never done before: they performed on TV. First being interviewed on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and a few months later on NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. In spite of their recent publicity, The Mountain Goats have remained true to their music.

For those who are not familiar with The Mountain Goats, they have been around since 1991 when John Darnielle began recording his poems set to guitar on a dual cassette recorder. In 2002, the album Tallahassee, The Mountain Goats began making higher quality recordings, and maintained some stability with a regular lineup. Before then, Darnielle would write the songs and various musicians he knew would work with him as needed but beginning with Tallahassee, The Mountain Goats became a more permanent band. As years progressed, the musicians around him would change but Darnielle’s songwriting remained constant. The Mountain Goats’ current lineup consists of Darnielle on vocals and guitar, Peter Hughes on bass, and Jon Wurster on drums.

Darnielle’s vocal style combines the lyrical brilliance of Bob Dylan with the passion of Bruce Springsteen and the subtly melodic angst of Jackson Browne for a unique blend that has been a staple of The Mountain Goats’ sound for nearly two decades. The lyrics in their songs span many different situations of the human experience ranging from teenage idealism and aspirations to dealing with fighting parents as a child to trying to save a marriage that is on the brink of divorce. If you listen through their entire discography, there is something anyone can relate to.

When they made, their first-ever TV appearance in October, it began with Stephen Colbert interviewing Darnielle and then they performed their new song “Psalms 40:2” after the commercial break. Colbert began his interview by revealing that he is, in fact, a fan of their work. Colbert read aloud one of his favorite sets of lyrics: “And a rabbit gives up somewhere, and a dozen hawks descend/ Every moment leads toward its own sad end/ Ships loosed from their moorings capsize and then they’re gone/ Sailors with no captains watch awhile and then move on” from the song “Sax Rohmer, Pt. 1”. Colbert is keeping with his act, questioned why an “artsy liberal” like Darnielle would write an album inspired by the Bible and why he did not instead choose a cooler animal to represent their band, like mountain lions.

The Mountain Goats most recent album, The Life of the World to Come, holds steady with the band’s tradition, but also has a different take on it. The title of the album is a reference to the Nicene Creed, and each of the songs is named for a different Bible verse. The songs do not directly quote their specific verses, but the lyrics explore spirituality through real-life situations. It puts a different spin on The Mountain Goats sound, but is not too religious for people of other faiths to be offended either.

If you are looking for music that has strong rhythm, and powerful lyrics that make you think, then The Mountain goats are a band worth checking out. Even though they have only started getting major publicity recently, their entire body of work is worth listening to.