BIOGRAPHYby Jason Nickey
The Mountain Goats are one of the more unusual bands to find shelter under the ever-expanding umbrella term of indie rock. Hyper-prolific and militantly lo-fi, there are over a hundred Mountain Goats songs scattered across compilations and label samplers, most of them recorded (by choice) on a department-store boom box. Although many musicians have contributed to Mountain Goats releases, by far the person most identified with the outfit is singer/guitarist John Darnielle. (In fact, many Mountain Goats tracks feature only Darnielle's nasal bleat and his primitive yet frenzied acoustic guitar.) Taking the name from the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song "Big Yellow Coat," Darnielle donned the Mountain Goats moniker in 1991 while working as a nurse in a California State hospital and began releasing cassette-only albums for the Shrimper label. Despite attracting a devoted underground following (or, possibly, because of it) the Mountain Goats continued to release songs in cassette form only for many years, using tape hiss as, virtually, an additional instrument.
Lyrics are also essential with the Mountain Goats. Highly literate and full of metaphor, many of Darnielle's songs fit together to form a larger narrative than they would alone. The "Going to..." series, the "Songs for..." series and the "Alpha" series (which chronicles a dysfunctional couple) are some of the Mountain Goats' more notable song cycles. But many of the Mountain Goats' songs stand alone and present Darnielle's skewed take on the mundane. Besides innumerable compilation tracks, the Mountain Goats have also released many 7" singles for over a dozen labels. Their full-length albums include Nine Black Poppies and Zopilote Machine (both released in 1995), Sweden (1996), Full Force Galesburg (1997), and Nothing for Juice (1997). Protein Source of the Future...NOW! and Bitter Melon Farm (both 1999 releases) collected many early tape tracks and singles. Sweden and The Coroner's Gambit appeared a year later.
Darnielle began the new millennium with records for Absolutely Kosher (The Coroner's Gambit) and Shrimper (Sweden) before signing to 4AD for the release of the surprisingly polished Tallahassee in 2002. We Shall All Be Healed followed in 2004, and one year later Darnielle was back with The Sunset Tree. Remaining prolific as ever, Darnielle turned away from the intensity of The Sunset Tree for a calmer, more reflective set of songs on 2006's Get Lonely. The accessible and assured Heretic Pride appeared in 2008.
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REVIEW
by Steve Leggett
The Mountain Goats are, for all practical purposes, the endlessly clever and prolific John Darnielle and whatever musicians he surrounds himself with, which means that while the soundscape may change from project to project, the overall tone and feel of Darnielle's work remains remarkably consistent, an impressive achievement, really, since Heretic Pride is his umpteenth album (and fourth for 4AD), and, as luck would have it, one of his most finely balanced ones at that. Darnielle at his best writes finely observed, slightly surreal, impressionistic vignettes that manage to mix life as we live it with life as we wish we could live it, and as such he has more in common with a short story writer than he does with the typical singer/songwriter. At his worst, he sounds glib, wordy, over wrought and ultimately unbelievable. Thankfully there is little of that kind of sputtering here, and Heretic Pride is almost perfectly structured, leading off with the shuffling "Sax Rohmer, Pt. 1," following it with the lovely, string-drenched "San Bernardino," and then skips off into Mountain Goat land, a world where the normal collides with the extraordinary, often within a line or two. Other highlights here include the beautiful "Tianchi Lake," which uses the simple act of swimming as a metaphor for so much more, and the odd, lysergic "Lovecraft in Brooklyn," which feels like the screenplay for a campy B movie monster flick given musical form, only, of course, it might be something else entirely. Darnielle can sometimes be too clever, loading in more than a song can bear, but he keeps that tendency in check for the most part on Heretic Pride, and the result is a wonderfully accessible and varied album that hits all the right buttons at all the right times.
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TRACKS
1 Sax Rohmer, Pt. 1 3:41
2 San Bernardino 3:19
3 Heretic Pride 3:42
4 Autoclave 3:34
5 New Zion 2:54
6 So Desperate 3:21
7 In the Craters on the Moon 3:31
8 Lovecraft in Brooklyn 3:49
9 Tianchi Lake 3:19
10 How to Embrace a Swamp Creature 3:27
11 Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident 3:21
12 Sept. 15, 1983 3:42
13 Michael Myers Resplendent 2:54
all music by Darnielle
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CREDITS
Sarah Arslanian Harmony Vocals
Franklin Bruno Organ, Piano
Annie Clark Guitar, Harmony Vocals
John Darnielle Guitar, Piano, Voices
Erik Friedlander Cello, String Arrangements
Peter Hughes Bass, Percussion, Guitar (Electric)
Scott Solter Percussion
John Vanderslice Synthesizer
Jon Wurster Percussion, Drums
Rachel Ware Zooi Harmony Vocals
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