Artist: The
Mountain Goats Album:
Heretic Pride Label: 4AD
Synopsis: One
thing, for me, that has characterized The Mountain Goats in the past years are
their lo-fi, really good songs that sound like they
were recorded at home with just an acoustic guitar. Well, in recent years,
since signing with 4AD (albeit good for them), they seem to have lost this lo-fi feel. They have
traded in the lo-fi, homey recordings for actual
production, which is definitely present on the record. I don’t think the album
is over produced, by industry standards, but, to me, it is over produced
compared to the band’s earlier stuff. Regardless, I still enjoy this album very
much. It certainly still has that folksy Mountain Goats style, but instead of
just an acoustic guitar, John Darnielle (pretty much
the sole member) has opted for a whole band on this CD. At first I was about to write off this entire
album because I just love it when the songs are only Darnielle
and an acoustic guitar, but fortunately The Mountain Goats great style persists
on this album just as much as any other, and was enough to draw me back in
again.
Recommended Tracks:
*1. “Sax Rohmer #1” – A drum pounding, driving song, with some
interesting guitar parts.
6. “So Desperate” – A sweet, slow acoustic
song.
*7. “In The Craters On The Moon” – Easily the
best song on the CD. An amazing fast paced song with amazing violin and guitar
parts in it. Darnielle sounds very passionate when he
is singing.
*8. “Lovecraft In
10. “How To Embrace A Swamp Creature” – An
organ, piano, and acoustic guitar song with some female backing vocals. Some violin.
13. “Michael Myers Resplendent” – Lots of instruments, some slow parts,
but it speeds up and gets really interesting.
Rating (1-10): 7.5
Reviewed By:
Rand Renfrow
* - currently being played on KTSW