The Mountain Goats: The Eternal's Deck (Merge)

 |   |  1 min read

The Mountain Goats: For Charles Bronson
The Mountain Goats: The Eternal's Deck (Merge)

The dramatic, almost declamatory, voice of John Darnielle (aka The Mountain Goats) is as distinctive as it is well enunciated. You get every word he sings, which means you are dragged from one poetic line to another where images tumble over one another (think Dylan '65-'66) and if there is a story it comes from an accumulation of ideas and impressions rather than from any narrative.

A previous album Heretic Pride (a Best of Elsewhere 2008 selection) seemed to have a loose theme of redemption and this one takes its title from a possibly apocryphal deck of fortune cards which pre-dated Aleister Crowley's tarot cards by a decade. (I'm cribbing from the liner notes, I doubt this is true.)

But that lends a cachet of mystery to these songs -- which, to be honest given his obscure and imagistic lyrics, hardly required it.

Darnielle's urgent deliver is commanding and when married to a taut guitar slash -- as on Estate Sale Sign which recounts a breakup in terms of once treasured household objects being divided up -- has a punky kick to it, like Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers or New Zealand singer-songwriter Don McGlashan in especially angry mood (Prowl Great Cain, and at the end Brisbane Hotel Sutra over piano is pure McGlashan in poetic mood).

But most of the album is mid-tempo, acoustic-driven songs given discreet touches from piano and strings, and when he gets reflective (the beautiful Age of Kings with its slow cello, the dramatic tension and alt.country of Beautiful Gas Mask) this album is engrossing.

By the little count-ins which start some tracks you also sense that this was recorded very live in the studio (High Hawk Season) and captures just that moment.

However it needs be said that many will find the sheer volume of words which tumble out here across 14 songs (only one beyond four minutes, five fewer than three) not an easy prospect, but longtime Mountain Goats fans know to pace themselves.

Whatever Darnielle is thinking about takes time to assimilate and is best sampled slowly.

Like the sound of this? Then check out this.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Yellow Ostrich: Cosmos (Barsuk/Southbound)

Yellow Ostrich: Cosmos (Barsuk/Southbound)

Although taking its title from Carl Sagan's 80s television series about the universe, the cosmological and astral references are musically few on this electronica-cum-alt.rock album by the... > Read more

Michael Chapman: 50 (Paradise of Bachelors/Southbound)

Michael Chapman: 50 (Paradise of Bachelors/Southbound)

Late last month this outsider singer-songwriter turned 76 and the album title refers to just how long he's been in the game. And mostly on the losing side when it came to public affection, but a... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Joan Osborne: Taking qawwali to the kids

Joan Osborne: Taking qawwali to the kids

Burlington in Vermont was just starting to take on the complexion of winter when I dropped out of the sky into its verdant beauty. Little wafts of snow were blown around the trunks of the trees and... > Read more

CHARLIE'S GOOD TONIGHT by PAUL SEXTON

CHARLIE'S GOOD TONIGHT by PAUL SEXTON

Given his circumspect nature, reluctance to engage with the expectations of the rock'n'roll lifestyle and his preference for staying at home rather than touring, you don't hold out much hope for a... > Read more