Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Best disc of 2005

M. Emrich | Denver, Co. | 12/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I consider this the best release of the year, which is all the more surprising since I am not particularly fond of the Mountain Goats previous work. John Darnielle has written far and away the best lyrics of any disc this year. The tunes are not always up to the stories, but the images his songs present and the emotions they evoke are phenomenal. John Darnielle does not have a particularly great voice either, in fact some may find it almost grating, but he has the best delivery I have ever heard. "This Year' is the standout song on the disc. Never has a song presented the feeling of being a disillusioned teen so well. The chorus "I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me." will resound in your ears. It is a song that the worst of us singers want to scream along with as it blasts out of our car radios. "locking eyes, holding hands twin high maintenance machines." I love that line. "The scene ends badly as you might imagine in a cavalcade of anger and fear." Is followed by "There will be feasting and dancing in Jeruselum next year." He Juxtaposes images of dread with hope. It's brilliant stuff. Some of his images are admittedly difficult to grasp. But there is hope amidst despair throughout this brilliant tale. Old fans may find this disc overproduced, but i heartily disagree. Every string and keyboard is gorgeous. Check out the strings on "Dilaudid". They evoke the feeling of a deep despair and self destruction like a simpler production could never achieve. Enough said. If you have not yet heard this disc buy it now."

Simply perfect

Hanna Eastin | 05/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought The Sunset Tree a week ago, sight unseen and note unheard. I listened to my other purchases first, since I was relatively familiar with them and knew what I was getting. Then I peeled off the celophane and popped in The Sunset Tree. No idea what to expect... I thought, upon the first notes of You or Your Memory, 'my god what an awful nasal voice'... then- 'oh.' Then lying on the floor watching the ceiling fan turn thinking, 'this is the most perfect album. There is no other way for this to be.' I am a self-employed artist and listen to music all day, and into the evening, as I work. This cd makes it hard to go to bed at night. It would almost be better to just sit still by the stereo and listen, over and over again, to this quiet steel masterpiece. I can't say enough, but it would be too much. Just buy this, and save yourself an afternoon or two or three, to really listen to it."

Up From Pain

James Carragher | New York | 05/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mountain Goats is basically one man, John Darnielle, a superb lyricist and a singer whose voice sounds both sandpapery and tentative. He sings here of life with an abusive stepfather, a subject not exactly made for easy listening, but The Sunset Tree, a humane and sympathetic freeing from a sad past, is not bitter, achieves strength and -- particularly in Song for Dennis Brown -- addresses some universal and inescapable experiences.

This might sound like dreary medicine to take, but instead it's good and almost pleasant listening. There is a cheerful, pop edge to some of the music, most notably in Dance Music and This Year. A greater reason, though, is Darnielle's own storytelling -- his stepfather sounds like a monster, but he is not denied his own humanity ("you are sleeping off your demons") and Darnielle even manages -- on hearing of the man's death -- to recall a fragile good memory, going together in an early morning years previously to watch horses work out. It helps too that in this history Darnielle recogizes his own teenaged self as not exactly perfect, describing himself and a girlfriend as "twin high-maintenance machines."

In its unflinching look at and ultimate release from past pain, The Sunset Tree was one of the best albums of 2005. It's ambitious, mature, realized, and -- not least -- tuneful. Buy it."

John Darnielle keeps his cool.

Kirk J. Faulkner | New York, NY | 04/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At a live show John Darnielle (who, despite his objections to such statements, IS the Mountain Goats) once told a story about being in an interview in Germany where he was trying to say something about one of his songs was questioned by the interviewer who said "Yes, well maybe, but you are famous liar!"

This idea rises from the fact that through the dozen or so Mountain Goats records that have proceeded Sunset Tree John Darnielle has created an entire emotional universe populated with fictional characters, fictional travels and historicaly based fictional stories all injected with heavy doses of genuine and real emotion.

So how excited was I when i heard that the new MG album was going to be based not off fictional characters but off of Darnielle's own life growing up in Southern california with an abusive step father.

I did wonder if he would be able to maintain the kind of emotional subjectivity that made his early songs so enjoyable. Confesionalist whining has its place and in my mind it is not in a mountain goats song.

How pleased was I when i finally got my hot little hands on this album and found that John Darnielle was able to treat his own dark moments with the kind of emotional honesty and humor that made albums like "All Hail west Texas" and "Tallahassee" the great albums they were.

As mentioned in the other review this is the third album where John has utilized multipl instruments, a big departure from his original one-dude-with-one-guitar set up. Even though it would be impossible to call this new incarnation low-fi there is something very elemental about it that holds true to the low fi ideal of shunning over production. For example the song "Dilaudid" consists of only Darnielle's nasal lyrics and a string section. It is both beautiful and primal.

There are lulls in the album as there have been with the last two studio albums. these lulls however fall between some of the greater pop songs I have heard this year. "Dance Music" instantly cimbed to the top of my favorite pop song list and other songs like "This Year" and "Broom "People" have the same hope-in-the-face-of-utter-hopelessness quality that makes all Mountain Goats albums the emotional treasure troves they are.

I won't go on and on but definitely download the few free songs linked to on Amazon, definitely go out and by the album and if you really wan to experience the Mountain Goats, go and see them live. You will not forget the experience soon.

To read my over all write up of the Mountain goats go to:

http://thedailykirk.blogs.com/the_daily_kirk/2005/04/the_mountain_go.html"

Check out cellist Erik Friedlander + John Vanderslice too!

Literate Rock Fan | New York, NY | 05/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a long long time Mountain Goats fans, from back in the day when he was putting out cassettes on Shrimper, and I have to say, this is a huge step up for John Darnielle -- very possibly the best record in his entire discography.

Just last night I saw him play at the Knitting Factory in New York, and part of me wants to say that one of the *reasons* he's stepped up his game so much is that he has finally found a team of musicians to truly capture the intensity of his always great lyrics. (The fact that he's finally singing about the child abuse that's surely the source for that holy fire also seems to help, too.)

Anyway, I'd suggest checking out not only the rest of John Darnielle's discography, but that of his contributors -- Erik Friedlander's solo record Maldoror, John Vanderslice's solo stuff (Erik plays on a new record coming in August), Shearwater, et. al.

Maybe people only listen to music for the vocals, but if you've been as impressed as I have by the MUSIC behind The Sunset Tree, you might enjoy all these discs."

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