10. Sweden (1995)
Darnielle’s second album, (and possibly the most criminally underrated in the whole catalog), Sweden is anything but a sophomore slump, taking and improving upon the minimalism of “Zopilote Machine,” “Sweden” is an oddly uplifting album, even for its lo-fi crunchiness, with themes of wanderlust and the redemptive power of love shining through on almost every track. The opener “The Recognition Scene” conjures up the warmth of hot caramel against snow, while “Downtown Seoul” is possibly the greatest love song Darnielle has ever written, and one of the band’s most listenable songs. There are weird directions on this album, too, with a cover of “FM” by Steely Dan popping up late in its runtime, but it’s weirdly kind of perfect. Plus, every song has an alternative Swedish title, poetic phrases like: “The Fleeing Ones Were Innocent.” Så coolt!
Play it again: “Downtown Seoul” and “Neon Orange Glimmer Song”
Skip it: “I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone”
9. The Life of the World to Come (2009)
And now we come to the one where every song is titled after a Bible verse. Not like a quote from a bible verse. Like… the name of a verse. Like “Hebrews 11:40.” And let’s be clear here, Christianity is a big part of John Darnielle’s work and life. But unlike certain other artists with heavy religious motifs, whose names rhyme with Mufjan Mevens, Darnielle isn’t prone to sounding like the world’s cringiest youth pastor doing a guitar mass. Instead, Darnielle incorporates religion into his own progressive outlook and weird lyrics, like those philosophers in the 40s who said it was every good Christian’s duty to go and kill Nazis.
Play it again: “Genesis 3:23”
Skip it: “Deuteronomy 2:10”
8. Tallahassee (2002)
Look, this is just between you and me, but I find this album to be a bit annoying. Not a lot. Just a bit. Just a tiny bit annoying. Obviously, it’s got “No Children,” which lends it a certain: “Orel, I need to speak to you… in my study” quality. Anyway, this is fine. Everyone seems to cream their corn over this album so we have to put it in the top ten. Some of y’all are gonna be mad it’s not in the top five, but as we say… The Hard Times is never wrong. No, but in all seriousness, there’s some really wonderful stuff on here. “First Few Desperate Hours” is a phenomenal song. So are “Southwood Plantation Road” and “The House That Dripped Blood.” It’s a more than memorable collection of songs. Touching and dark. A culmination to the story of the Alpha couple that have long-lived in Darnielle’s discography that proves divorces are like potato chips. You should never have just one.
Play it again: “No Children”
Skip it: “International Small Arms Traffic Blues”
7. All Hail West Texas (2002)
There’s something so sophisticated and cogent here, this feels like the first real concept album by this group (and boy oh boy does this group like concept albums). There’s nothing wrong with it. Even the most God-fearing among us likes to shout out: “HAIL SATAN” at the end of “Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton.” It’s alright. John Darnielle says it’s cool. And again, he’s got cool youth minister vibes. Plus, you know, he’s not actually worshiping the Devil, so much as throwing off the shackles of a small repressive town and… yeah. Anyway, whatever, it’s a sad album about small-town life and rehab. What do you want? It’s the Mountain Goats.
Play it again: “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton” and “Balance”
Skip it: “Source Decay”
6. The Coroner’s Gambit (2000)
The last of the classic lo-fi era, and probably the most enjoyable. Certainly the one that sounds the least like Freddy Kruger playing the wind-chimes. “The Coroner’s Gambit” features some of Darnielle’s most interesting stylistic choices. For instance, the first song, “Jaipur,” opens not with Darnielle’s vocals or with a guitar playing, but with a sample of Bessie Smith’s “Haunted House Blues,” which makes… sense…? “The Coroner’s Gambit, or Slavonic Dances if you prefer.” is a very interesting record. Overall, this is an album that looks forward as much as it looks back, with “homecoming” as a prominent theme throughout. This is a great transitional album. The bridge between the vague, universal sadness of the ‘90s albums to the specific, personal sadness of everything after.
Play it again: “Elijah” and “There Will Be No Divorce”
Skip it: “Horseradish Road”
5. Dark in Here (2021)
There’s something about this album, whether it’s the idiosyncratic subject matter of the Headless Horseman or Lizard Suits or the way that “Parisian Enclave” sounds like the world’s best theme song. But there’s something there that really hits our main character syndrome in a good way. Plus, “Dark in Here” has some of Darnielle’s best songwriting to date, like the epic that is “Mobile” or in “To the Headless Horseman” where he sings: “A stranger’s just a friend who hasn’t shared their secrets yet.”
Play it again: “Mobile” and “Parisian Enclave”
Skip it: “Before I Got There”
4. Goths (2017)
“The Sunset Tree” is a masterpiece, but like a Bergman film or one of Donald Trump’s steaks… it’s a dark, dark masterpiece. It shows the worst parts of John Darnielle’s childhood, the abuse, the drugs, the self-implosion. “Goths,” despite its title, is the light. An homage to the music Darnielle grew up listening to, the Siouxies and the Banshees, the Misfitses the Nicks Cave. For young people dealing with tragedy and depression, dark, violent or aggressive music often offers a weirdly cathartic path to light. Trust us. We work at a punk music satire mag and you don’t even wanna know what our therapy bill costs are. This album is great start to finish, with “Rain in Soho” and “Stench of the Unburied” acting as standouts while “The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement” pay a lovely tribute to the birthplace of Trader Joe’s herself by describing “secret tunnels under West Covina.”
Play it again: “Unicorn Tolerance”
Skip it: No Skip Album
3. Transcendental Youth (2012)
This album’s just good. Good and surprisingly light, at times. At least by Mountain Goats standards. The opener, for instance, “Amy, AKA Spent Gladiator 1” begs the listener to “do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive.” Meanwhile, “Lakeside View Apartment Suite,” tells the story of half-remembered and half-wasted youth. Like all those summers you spent at tennis camp.
Play it again: “Cry for Judas”
Skip it: No skip album
2. The Sunset Tree (2005)
It is a testament to the lack of media literacy in this country that you all went through 2020 blasting “This Year,” like it’s some sort of “Fight Song,” “Brave,” “Roar,” power ballad, meant to guide you through tough times. I mean, on some level, it is that, but that song, like this entire album, is about drug usage, rocky relationships and trauma stemming from the horror of an abusive stepfather. Throughout this record, Darnielle’s piece-of-shit stepdad takes many forms. A magpie, a lion, a gambler who bets on horses. It’s a dark, harrowing record, that brings its listener unflinchingly into the ugliest aspects of human nature, still baiting them with catchy hooks on songs like “Dance Music.” Meanwhile, Darnielle does give us catharsis on “Love Love Love,” and even forgiveness on “Pale Green Things.” It’s a tear-jerking, gut-wrenching, powerful album. And how perfect that “Love Love Love,” underscores the darkest parts of the similarly-themed “Moral Orel.”
Play it again: “Dance Music” and “Love Love Love”
Skip it: “Song For Dennis Brown”
1. Heretic Pride (2008)
For an album that features Michael Myers, Swamp Monsters and the rantings of H.P. Lovecraft, “Heretic Pride” is a surprisingly beautiful and graceful experience. “San Bernardino,” for instance, uses poetry to describe a simple family road trip, “How to Embrace a Swamp Creature,” describes an alienating reunion with an old lover, “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” features the paranoid ravings of original Reddit reply guy H.P. Lovecraft, a man who became famous among legions of socially maladapted high schoolers by writing terrible, racist fanfics of Bierce, Chambers and Blackwood. And “Michael Myers Resplendent” makes the perfect “walking out of a therapist’s office while crying because you just had a breakthrough” song.
Play it again: “Michael Myers Resplendent” and “Lovecraft in Brooklyn”
Skip it: No Skip Album
Continue Reading:
1 2