The Mountain Goats exchange studio mediocrity with on-tour excellence
Devin Thomas
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: Entertainment
"Hi, we're the Mountain Goats," said John Darnielle, stepping onstage with an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. At a concert venue like Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church, where Darnielle made his pronouncement, this would seem like a typical introduction to the band-if Darnielle weren't the only person standing onstage. For almost twenty years, Darnielle-who looks like a '90s cable-access version of Bob Saget-has been the stalwart member of the Mountain Goats band, accompanied by a rotating series of instrumentalists who have helped to record the sixteen albums attributed to the Mountain Goats name.
Darnielle began the concert with a solo, all-acoustic set featuring some of the band's more obscure songs, including a cover of the traditional hymn "Abide with Me" and "Duke Ellington," which appeared on an indie rock compilation disc in 1995 (alongside, as Darnielle quipped before beginning the song, "such famous bands" as Fertile Virgin and Pest 5000). The segment highlighted the singer-songwriter's talent as both an instrumentalist (the delicacy-and occasional indelicacy-of his guitarwork merely adds to the lyrics) and as a writer, knowingly emphasizing and reimagining the significance behind each word through his intonation and timbre, rather than simply imitating the album recording of each song.
By the time he was joined onstage by long-time collaborator Peter Hughes and a guest drummer for the "full band" portion of the show, Darnielle had already whipped the audience into an anxious-for-more frenzy with his patently awkward-yet-endearing brand of banter: decrying the plague of the omnipresent concertgoer who only calls out for the band's popular songs ("I'm glad that guy wasn't feeling well tonight," Darnielle said) and outlining his policies for the inevitable John Darnielle/Ron Paul presidency ("Step 1: Consolidate power. Step 2: Thin Lizzy"). As flashbulbs popped through the dark auditorium, Darnielle deconstructed the idea of taking mid-concert pictures: "[If] people conflate looking very bad [in pictures] with looking real . . . y'all meet me tomorrow morning at 7:30 when I wake up, naked and bloated, and we'll get some hot ass pictures."
Self-deprecating charm aside, Darnielle's full-band set merely magnified the subtle perfection of the acoustic set. Even in studio recordings, it is attitude, articulation, and lyrical evocation that give the Mountain Goats' music its emotional weight; in concert, Darnielle's performance infuses these components with a sense of urgency and immediacy that seems to elevate the music above its pre-recorded counterpart. He can sing, he can scream. And his deft control over vocal pitch adds important nuance to each piece.
The set list included only a few songs from the band's latest album, Heretic Pride-"Sept. 15 1983," "In the Craters on the Moon," and a loud, rousing interpretation of "Lovecraft to Brooklyn"-and perhaps for good reason: this latest release certainly isn't the strongest ever put forth by Darnielle, mostly in its lyricism: overall the album lacks the redolent, almost tactile songwriting Darnielle has displayed previously. Take, for example, a lyric from the track "Michael Myers Resplendent": "I am ready for my close-up today / Too long I've let my self-respect get in the way." Ignoring the important character insight suggested by the juxtaposition of "self-respect" and the idea of the always-self-indulgent close-up, the lines lack the depth of detail and playful linguistic mastery typically associated with Darnielle's lyricism. In another album, the lyric would have been unpacked and laid bare; in its present state it seems lifted from any number of mediocre Sheryl Crow ditties. Despite a few notable standouts (particularly "Sept 15 1983" and the weirdly scientific love ballad "Autoclave"), the album as a whole seems remarkably slip-shod for a wordsmith so otherwise attentive to minutia.
But not the concert. Playing live, Darnielle doesn't seem to have lost his knack; perhaps his choice of "forgotten" gems (mostly from the band's heralded lo-fi days) during the acoustic set provides insight into his own feelings about later, more widespread studio albums. In any case, the concert expressed Darnielle true-to-form: quirky, neurotic, and unarguably insightful, full of sorrow and regret and that slightest glimmer of hope.
Darnielle began the concert with a solo, all-acoustic set featuring some of the band's more obscure songs, including a cover of the traditional hymn "Abide with Me" and "Duke Ellington," which appeared on an indie rock compilation disc in 1995 (alongside, as Darnielle quipped before beginning the song, "such famous bands" as Fertile Virgin and Pest 5000). The segment highlighted the singer-songwriter's talent as both an instrumentalist (the delicacy-and occasional indelicacy-of his guitarwork merely adds to the lyrics) and as a writer, knowingly emphasizing and reimagining the significance behind each word through his intonation and timbre, rather than simply imitating the album recording of each song.
By the time he was joined onstage by long-time collaborator Peter Hughes and a guest drummer for the "full band" portion of the show, Darnielle had already whipped the audience into an anxious-for-more frenzy with his patently awkward-yet-endearing brand of banter: decrying the plague of the omnipresent concertgoer who only calls out for the band's popular songs ("I'm glad that guy wasn't feeling well tonight," Darnielle said) and outlining his policies for the inevitable John Darnielle/Ron Paul presidency ("Step 1: Consolidate power. Step 2: Thin Lizzy"). As flashbulbs popped through the dark auditorium, Darnielle deconstructed the idea of taking mid-concert pictures: "[If] people conflate looking very bad [in pictures] with looking real . . . y'all meet me tomorrow morning at 7:30 when I wake up, naked and bloated, and we'll get some hot ass pictures."
Self-deprecating charm aside, Darnielle's full-band set merely magnified the subtle perfection of the acoustic set. Even in studio recordings, it is attitude, articulation, and lyrical evocation that give the Mountain Goats' music its emotional weight; in concert, Darnielle's performance infuses these components with a sense of urgency and immediacy that seems to elevate the music above its pre-recorded counterpart. He can sing, he can scream. And his deft control over vocal pitch adds important nuance to each piece.
The set list included only a few songs from the band's latest album, Heretic Pride-"Sept. 15 1983," "In the Craters on the Moon," and a loud, rousing interpretation of "Lovecraft to Brooklyn"-and perhaps for good reason: this latest release certainly isn't the strongest ever put forth by Darnielle, mostly in its lyricism: overall the album lacks the redolent, almost tactile songwriting Darnielle has displayed previously. Take, for example, a lyric from the track "Michael Myers Resplendent": "I am ready for my close-up today / Too long I've let my self-respect get in the way." Ignoring the important character insight suggested by the juxtaposition of "self-respect" and the idea of the always-self-indulgent close-up, the lines lack the depth of detail and playful linguistic mastery typically associated with Darnielle's lyricism. In another album, the lyric would have been unpacked and laid bare; in its present state it seems lifted from any number of mediocre Sheryl Crow ditties. Despite a few notable standouts (particularly "Sept 15 1983" and the weirdly scientific love ballad "Autoclave"), the album as a whole seems remarkably slip-shod for a wordsmith so otherwise attentive to minutia.
But not the concert. Playing live, Darnielle doesn't seem to have lost his knack; perhaps his choice of "forgotten" gems (mostly from the band's heralded lo-fi days) during the acoustic set provides insight into his own feelings about later, more widespread studio albums. In any case, the concert expressed Darnielle true-to-form: quirky, neurotic, and unarguably insightful, full of sorrow and regret and that slightest glimmer of hope.
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