On your custom Kawasaki with the stinger on the back

October 27, 2023 11:15 AM

Today is release day for the Mountain Goats album “Jenny from Thebes.”* You know the band, or maybe you don’t, but anyway it’s the band that covered Ace of Base and Steely Dan and Trembling Blue Stars, the band that recorded that one song that will reduce you to rubble every time, the band that didn’t record that other song that will reduce you to rubble every time they play it live, the one with that great, great song on an episode of “Weeds” and the songs about Amy Winehouse, Chavo Guerrero, Frankie Lymon, and passing out on Liza Minelli's star. The band with the massive crowd favorite encore that happens to be a viral Tik Tok thing.

The band that wrote the one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded, and the song about the triumph of pigs that ran straightaway into the water.

The one whose songwriter has a whole ‘nother band(s?) whose many fewer songs are just as good as the main band’s songs, and has also written four books including one that is as moving as anything most of us have ever read.

So yeah, you know the band. The band with the intimidating back catalogue** whose several phases have included no fewer than five high water marks, none of which would displace “All Hail West Texas” (AHWT) by any fan consensus.

Well, “Jenny from Thebes” is a sequel to "AHWT." Jenny, our protagonist, is in the AHWT songs “Jenny,” “Color In Your Cheeks,” and “Source Decay” at very least,*** as well as the later b-side “Straight Six” and the song “Night Light” on “Transcendental Youth.” As with the last several Mountain Goats albums, the band here is the core group of John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas, and the former drummer from Superchunk. It features Matt Nathanson, Alice Bognanno (Bully), and—get this: Kathy Fucking Valentine from the Go-Go’s.

The record will sound familiar to people who’ve been following the band’s work after “Transcendental Youth” (2012) or so. At least one aptly named MeFite and other longtime fans will appreciate seeing a new song in the “Going to . . .” series. A song or two that you could maybe call “pop-punk” for lack of a better term, amid lots of songs composed on piano that build on the multi-instrumental tool belt that Matt Douglas brings to the table. A band that once released songs that were played on a Casio keyboard and recorded into a boombox are now releasing songs that require horn charts.

I’m ambivalent about music review sites, but so far it’s well-liked. One review said, “At a time when marginalized communities are under attack with little support from those meant to protect them, a rock opera about mutual aid sends a message that they’re not alone."

*I don’t know if this post belongs on FanFare’s “Other Media” section or on the Blue. I posted a recent MetaTalk about this question and the answers were mixed.

** During the quarantine phase of the pandemic, they released a career-spanning run of “live” albums (no audience, in a studio) that might serve as the best starting point for a n00b.

*** Or is she a character in even more songs on AHWT? Maybe other MeFites can help me out with that.

posted by kensington314 (26 comments total)

I've been aware of The Mountain Goats for years but never really gave them a listen until my teenage kid heard "No Children" on social media earlier this year and jumped straight into the deep end of the band's catalogue. It's the first instance where my child has introduced me to 'new' music that I find profoundly enjoyable, and I'm sure it won't be the last. So, I have John Darnielle to thank for this long-awaited instance of familial bonding.

Excellent post.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 11:39 AM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have been a fan for a decade or so, and have had the opportunity to see them live several times. The first time was a John Darnielle solo show, which I highly recommend if you can get to one of his occasional solos. Without the rest of the band there, he talks a lot and it's fascinating.
posted by Well I never at 11:43 AM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this post. The Mountain Goats have come across my radar a few times over the years - This Year has been in heavy rotation recently, but I've never dug deeply into their back catalog, and really should.
posted by jferg at 1:35 PM on October 27, 2023

I saw them live a couple few weeks ago, and totally feel in love with 'Steal Smoked Fish' - a non album track from around the time of transcendental youth. It's an absolutely gorgeous song about the friends who almost certainly didn't stay alive.
posted by kaibutsu at 1:58 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

I saw them live a couple few weeks ago, and totally feel in love with 'Steal Smoked Fish '

This is a top 50 Mountain Goats song for me, for sure. Really jealous you saw them play it!
posted by kensington314 at 2:00 PM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

The day before my birthday in 2022, I got to see a Mountain Goats show in Des Moines, IA. John Darnielle has a history with central Iowa - he used to work, I think, for a social services agency in Ames - and they played six or seven encores and Darnielle talked about how he wrote "No Children."

A year earlier, I decided to drive to Lawrence, KS to see one of Darnielle's solo shows. I ended up getting scheduled for skin cancer surgery the day before the show, but I decided that if I had to get skin cancer surgery I needed and deserved to go to Lawrence, KS to see the concert, and I didn't really care if I had to see the show with a bright yellow band-aid on my forehead, and that turned out to be the right decision. (I no longer recall why I only had bright yellow band-aids.)

I haven't really kept up with all their output at much as I want to - they're honestly just too prolific for a person like me who often takes a very long time to warm up to an album - but I AM excited to listen to "Jenny from Thebes."
posted by Jeanne at 2:05 PM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Just to clarify, they're not The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton, they just sing about them.
posted by signal at 2:13 PM on October 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

I haven't really kept up with all their output at much as I want to - they're honestly just too prolific for a person like me who often takes a very long time to warm up to an album

Totally. The pace of the releases is high and it makes it hard to pin down whether the overall quality has gone down or is just difficult to keep up with! If anybody wants a Best-of-the-Recent-Albums mix or any other kind of mix, MeMail me!
posted by kensington314 at 2:43 PM on October 27, 2023

kaibutsu, we must've been at the same show!

I'm wearing my Jenny sweatshirt in honor of release day, but have yet to actually listen to the album in full - looking forward to giving it a spin later tonight (I haven't been a huge fan of tMG's recent output, but the occasional banger hits often enough that I'll always give them a shot.)
posted by btfreek at 3:00 PM on October 27, 2023

I am so, so blessed that my favorite band is also one of the most prolific ones.

Bleed Out is gold from start to finish. I am looking forward to listening to the new album!
posted by JDHarper at 4:22 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

I came to the Mountain Goats via that Weeds episode! I'd borrowed the DVDs from a friend or the library and literally paused the show, went back and forth until I had enough lyrics to search for, then bought the album and then more and more albums.

It's hard to keep up with Darnielle! I want to give every MG album a deep listen but his pace is such that I find it hard to really feel like I'm really catching every album. Goths is about the last album that I feel I did justice to.

It's worth mentioning that he's also a novelist! I really loved Wolf in White Van, liked Universal Harvester, and I'm sorry to say Devil House left me cold -- he takes a few stylistic swings in it, including one really huge aim-for-the-fences one, which just didn't land for me... but a lot of people love it, and he's definitely got a unique voice in fiction.
posted by Shepherd at 5:06 PM on October 27, 2023

Saw them in Montana a few weeks ago. Great set!
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:24 PM on October 27, 2023

Okay, you put that cover of "Sometimes I Still Feel the Bruise" front and center, that gets major points. What an all-time gut punch of a song for anyone who's ever had an important unrequited or unrealized love.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:12 PM on October 27, 2023

John Darnielle and I grew up at the same time in the same town and share several friends in common. I finally met him a few years ago, at NerdCon. He's lovely.
posted by jscalzi at 7:49 PM on October 27, 2023 [8 favorites]

I have so many special memories (and also my Metafilter username) connected to this band. I'm on my second, slower listen of Jenny from Thebes but it's going to take a pause while I dig through these links. Great post, thank you!
posted by jameaterblues at 7:57 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

jameaterblues, so happy to know of another MeFi in addition to Going to Maine who has a nom de chèvre! Oh, and you're named for 7" featuring "Straight Six" about Jenny, no less!!
posted by kensington314 at 8:25 PM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Most days, I feel like I'm 1/3 of the way to concocting a long-form post about how "Mark On You" is actually the platonic ideal of the perfect song, but then I get bogged down in the fact that it's mostly a vessel for John Darnielle to sing incredibly menacing lyrics in an upbeat tone, but that's sort of the point, and considered strictly on its merits I'd argue that no one has recorded a tighter sub-2:30 song ever in the history of the world.

In conclusion, the Mountain Goats are a land of contrasts. Thank you.
posted by Mayor West at 8:34 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

I don't the know the Mountain Goats well enough to be a fan, but this live performance of "Damn These Vampires" from a sparse arrangement of guitar, base, snare, and a great song makes magic that I can't get tired of listening to.

And John's little strumming dance at the end gives me unexpected joy even when I know it's coming.
posted by straight at 9:09 PM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

OH MY GOD THERE IS A NEW MOUNTAIN GOATS ALBUM?!?! AND IT IS A SEQUEL TO ALL HAIL WEST TEXAS‽‽‽‽‽

I am THERE. I am UNPREPARED. Literally within the past week? I have used a Mountain Goats song to help me reflect on grief ("Genesis 3:23").

Found them because my colleagues Jim Fisher and Scott Rosenberg at Salon.com loved them.

The "I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats" season on AHWT was so spectacular.

I'm just so happy. Thank you for the post, kensington314, and thanks for the fun thread everybody!
posted by brainwane at 1:19 AM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure what it is about Damn These Vampires that keeps me from fully loving the song like I do a lot of the others, but the build up of the opening verse, and all of the rich detail, ended with "Someday we won't remember this" floors me every time. Maybe it's that sudden gut punch that keeps me from really grappling with the rest of the song on the level it deserves?

My absolute favorite, though, is the Tiny Desk Concert version of Color in Your Cheeks, where someone with better music words than I have can explain what it is he does at the beginning of the last verse (is it a major key? Shit, I suck at music) to change the song between that and the original (which is still great). There's just something that becomes so bright and hopeful in a song that speaks of people being at the last little bit of a line of terrible decisions, lucky enough to find a place that will ask no questions, take them in, and hold them until they're reading to stand again. The change in the TDC version just makes it feel so much more possible, so much more believable that the man who drove in from Mexicali might find his way back, or forward, or wherever he needs to go.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:53 AM on October 28, 2023

"That one song that will..." well it did. Darnielle seems quite prolific. I fear the consequences should he and Robert Pollard ever cross paths. The resulting tsunami of songs might engulf the whole of the Eastern USA. Glorious way to go, mind.
posted by BCMagee at 7:04 AM on October 28, 2023

My absolute favorite, though, is the Tiny Desk Concert version of Color in Your Cheeks

ahh when I get home I'm figuring out YouTube's ad blocker workaround specifically to hear this again.

Ghidorah, it's not Damn These Vampires for me (sleep like dead men! wake up like dead men!), but I know what you mean about how a line can occasionally kind of suck the air out of a tMG song for me. I love 98% of Spent Gladiator 1 but while "Don't hurt anybody on your way up to the light", is like. objectively good advice, I hear it as three incredibly raw verses on relentless survival with a stray asterisk in the middle. Cmon man I'm not here for admonishing disclaimers, we're sheltering in rat nests and getting aggressively weird tattoos.
posted by jameaterblues at 8:04 AM on October 28, 2023

I've been aware of The Mountain Goats for years but never really gave them a listen until my teenage kid heard "No Children" on social media earlier this year and jumped straight into the deep end of the band's catalogue.

Here's something: I went to see the band in Los Angeles last month and fully 20% of the crowd was I'd say 13-20 in age. This is just not a thing you see for a band that has entered its fourth decade. I haven't seen that many kids at a rock show ... ever ... unless it was like a small local punk show. I think this is all due to the Tik Tok meme. And they were heads.. I haven't loved the last three records and was surprised to see these young people with those fashionable acne stickers on their faces singing along to every word of the newer songs.
posted by kensington314 at 9:41 AM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's... okay? Very very pretty instrumentation, but I was expecting much more show tune/rock opera/narrative from what Darnielle has said about it. And what it is, is a late-stage Mountain Goats album with a little extra instrumentation. Which is very pretty! It just kinda went in one ear and out the other, like most of Dark In Here and Getting into Knives. I couldn't call a single song to mind that I remember, much less am desperate to hear again. It's weird watching them go from folk rock to dad rock to yacht rock.

I'm a huge fan of Sunset Tree, We Shall All Be Healed, All Eternals Deck, In League with Dragons and Transcendental Youth, but the latest run hasn't done much for me. Bleed Out had some good moments. I'd love to see Darnielle get back some of the fire he has on the early hi-fi stuff... but none of us are getting any younger.
posted by skullhead at 11:15 AM on October 28, 2023

skullhead, have you checked out Songs for Pierre Chuvin? He just dropped a new lo-fi album out of nowhere between In League With Dragons and Getting Into Knives and it's so good, really shows that the old Darnielle is still in there
posted by jason_steakums at 11:45 AM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's... okay? Very very pretty instrumentation, but I was expecting much more show tune/rock opera/narrative from what Darnielle has said about it.

It definitely sounds like a John Darnielle and the E Street Band album at times.
posted by kensington314 at 11:48 AM on October 28, 2023