The Mountain Goats have lessened their gait. On their newest release, Get Lonely, the band’s feverishly prolific singer/songwriter (and only consistent member) John Darnielle, takes a breather and explores the most subdued and nuanced territory of his career. As it turns out, he was getting bored with angst.
“I’ve become more receptive to subtleties,” he explains. “I spent 10 years or so hollering at the top of my lungs, and now I’m more open to darker shadings—shadowy stuff.”
The result is a collection of portraits, all echoing an underlying theme of absence. The music is built on his familiar acoustic strumming and is often bolstered by the rich instrumentation of a full band (an aberration to an oeuvre marked by sparse, lo-fi production). He fully employs the studio, adding horn bursts and orchestral string swells where there was previously only the hiss of his cassette-tape recordings. He hasn’t budged, though, in his veneration of lyrics or his insistent, grating tenor. Often dubbed a “literary” musician, it’s clear that in Darnielle’s kitchen, words are always the main course.
“What I do is ‘about’ the lyrics. I started writing songs to frame my ideas—stories, images, moods—and the music has usually been there to hold up the lyrics for inspection,” he says. “When I was writing Get Lonely, I had dead people in mind sometimes, or forgotten persons—the type of people you lose track of and remember later without hope of learning what became of them.”
The album manages to take the listener into Darnielle’s cold, empty house to reveal the specters within. The songs are at once playful and heartbreaking. The single “Woke Up New” begins with the confession, “On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time, I felt free. And I felt lonely. And I felt scared.” And that’s the disc’s most upbeat tune.
But Darnielle’s anything but dour. He’s thrilled about the pair of U.S. tours the Mountain Goats have lined up for this fall, including three consecutive NYC shows. And though he’s notoriously productive, having released over 15 albums on almost as many labels, his demeanor reflects the album’s sleepy pace.
“I haven’t started thinking about the next Mountain Goats album,” he admits. “No hurry.”
Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie Sts.), 212-533-2111; 8, $16. (also Sept. 29 at Europa).
