The Mountain Goats are a formidable band with over two dozen albums under their belt. Each one is an incredible odyssey that takes the listener through many periods and locations.
“All Hail West Texas,” “Sweden” and “Tallahassee” see the band take inspiration from places throughout the world. “Heretic Pride,” “The Life of the World to Come” and “All Eternals Deck” take religious and cultural inspiration throughout America and put them on wax.
Lately, The Mountain Goats have been taking various subcultures — like wrestling on “Beat the Champ” or gothic culture on “Goths” — and putting their own spin on them. Their albums not only take story cues from various media but musical ones as well.
Their early albums had been lo-fi indie folk records, which then transitioned to indie rock in the 2000s. Now in the late 2010s and early 2020s, they have a softer rock sound reminiscent of lounge music, Mac Demarco, or a quirkier Coldplay.
Their newest full-length effort, “Jenny From Thebes,” is an amalgamation of their latest albums sonically — incorporating the softer, guitar and piano-led rock found on “Goths,” but also using percussion, strings, jazz instruments and more found on previous records like “Bleed Out” or “Transcendental Youth.”
The story of the album is told through the music, but The Mountain Goats’ Bandcamp page describes the album as “the story of Jenny, her southwestern ranch style house, the people for whom that house is a place of safety and the west Texas town that is uncomfortable with its existence. It is a story about the individual and society, about safety and shelter and those who choose to provide care when nobody else will..”
John Darnielle — the lead singer of The Mountain Goats — gives a pretty run-of-the-mill performance on this album. His stagnant effort is not entirely his fault, however. His usually raspy and emotive singing is not found on this album and is much calmer and more subdued here.
The standout tracks on this album are where everything comes together — emotive singing, instrumentation and great songwriting. “Jenny III,” “Fresh Tattoo” and “From the Nebraska Plant” include all of these elements and pull them off excellently.
“Fresh Tattoo” is a turning point in the album. It is a song about change through the metaphor of a fresh tattoo. “Trying not to scratch where it itches/It takes a certain level of discipline,” Darnielle sings.
In this album, Jenny is a character I think we can all relate to. She is running from change, though it will catch up to her. But even while she is running from inevitability, she does her best to help people who are in need.
“From the Nebraska Plant” is probably Darnielle’s most contemplative and thoughtful song on the record. “It wasn’t in your nature/Taking in the strays/But you handed me your helmet/I clung to you for days,” Darnielle sings.
Jenny changes and grows throughout the album, just like how The Mountain Goats’ audience has grown older and arguably wiser throughout their 30-year existence as a band. This is most evident in “Jenny III,” which finds Darnielle crooning over a string section, mixing automobile metaphors and arguing that people age just like cars do.
Darnielle ends the track with the refrain: “And I was crying/I could barely make the frame out through my tears/She did/Long before we did.”
Darnielle’s stagnation — and the band’s stagnation by extension — is a forgivable grievance. If he keeps giving us sincere records like this that touch many hearts, then I think he deserves a break after 30 years.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
