Goths - By The Mountain Goats
ALBUM TITLE: Goths (2017)
ARTIST: The Mountain Goats
GENRE: Chamber pop / Folk
LISTEN HERE: Spotify
A year after "Beat the Champ", the Mountain Goats return with a retrospective on teen angst and counterculture with "Goths." The result is an album both refreshing and familiar, woven together with the warm lyrical authenticity that Darnelle fans have come to love over the years. This is an album that takes time to grow on the listener, but as with the rest of their discography, long time fans and newcomers alike will find something to take away from the experience.
The first single released off the album, "Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds," encapsulates the overall vibe of the album. The song has a soft, chamber-poppy vibe that persists throughout the album, especially in "We Do It Different on the West Coast" and "Wear Black." The song is dedicated to the frontman of The Sisters of Mercy, popularly considered the ‘godfather of goth,’ albeit a label he has rejected since the early 1990s. In this song, Darnelle describes the titular artist’s move back to his hometown in Leeds, leaving behind the decaying aesthetics of his past. The song is wistful in tone, with lines like “There’s indifference on the air/With a faint gust of hope.”
This single was book ended by the release of the second song on the album as another single, "Rain in Soho." In my opinion, this song is the real standout of the album, with a heavy, brooding sound and full of the same kinds of allusions and dizzying imagery as found in earlier albums. The song is also rife with references to goth subculture that permeates the album, from shout-outs to Siouxsie and the Banshees to the self-aware breeziness of "Wear Black."
"Goths" is a worthy addition to the sprawling discography of The Mountain Goats, continuing "Beat the Champ's" focus on the subcultures close to Darnelle’s heart. Whether your awkward years were spent in leather and fishnets or something a bit more conventional, there’s something in this album for everyone.
FAVORITES:
Rain in Soho
Andrew Eldritch is Coming Back to Leeds
Stench of the Unburied
Listen to the Goths album below: