Haven't updated since the end of summer--busy with school--but come on: new Mountain Goats album. You KNOW I'm not gonna pass that up.
For starters, let me just recommend Bible Gateway; it's gonna be a huge help. Because, just like he did sometimes in his tapedeck-and-yelling days, Darnielle's named some of the tracks on The Life of the World to Come after bible verses. All of the tracks.
I'm not really gonna harp on the premise too much--sometimes it helps lend some extra depth to the songs, sometimes it doesn't--but I will say that it provides a nice backdrop to the album. Whereas Heretic Pride seemed to revolve around heresy, people finding their own faiths, and its motley cure of individuals seemed the usual Mountain Goats crew of disparate misfits, The Life of the World to Come revolves around faith, belief, the role that religion plays in our lives. From the desperate tweaker faith of "Psalms 40 and 2" (He has fixed his sign in the sky! He has raised me from the pit, AND HE WILL SET ME HIGH!), to the simple faith in love in "Genesis 30:3", it's an album about finding comfort, about human warmth, about the redemptive powers of belief.
(May I also say that "Genesis 30:3" has in it a line that ranks alongside the climax of "Going to Georgia"--"the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you--and that you're standing in the doorway."--for a bluntly simple, still-beautiful declaration of love? I think I can. "I will do what you ask me to/because of how I feel about you.")
The album is most reminiscent, not of Heretic Pride, but of Satanic Messiah, last year's EP (have you heard it yet? Oh man, it's so good. It's free!), which was also a series of toned-down, piano-centric songs about religion and faith. This may be it's greatest weakness, however: while Satanic Messiah is one of Darnielle's strongest efforts ever, it's also only 4 songs long. The melancholy sweetness starts to drag a bit on the full album; "Psalms 40 and 2" is the most energetic song by a mile, and in a way I'm reminded of Bright Eye's Cassadaga--"it's great and all, but would you mind screaming a bit more?" The Life of the World to Come needs a bit more energy to it, is all.
Which isn't to say that there's not some really beautiful stuff in the quiet bits. "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficiacy of Grace" stands alongside "Your Belgian Things" and "Maybe Sprout Wings" as one of the most affecting, stingingly sad songs Darnielle's ever written. The most powerful moment on the album, in fact, comes when you realize why its drug-addicted narrator is making a run for the Mexican border, in the two lines that come out of nowhere as a confession before he returns to his plan. Similarly, "Matthew 25:21", about watching his mother-in-law die of cancer, deserves the slow, tired pace. However, I wish that there were more songs like "Romans 10:9", a joyous exaltation of the power of God in providing stability in an unstable life, a rolling, exuberant song containing probably the best line in the whole album: "won't take the medication but it's good to have around/a kind and loving god won't let my small ship run aground."
Musically, the album holds up well, although it seems like a step backwards from Heretic Pride--the instrumentation is less varied, and there's nothing as exciting and unexpected as the vicious guitars on "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" or the painful build-up of "In the Craters on the Moon." Life seems a little too under-produced, a little too simple, like a return to the Tallahassee era. (It's also Darnielle's first hi-fi album with Vanderslice nowhere on board, which is probably part of it).All in all, it stands as a solid contribution, although not one of the Goats' strongest. Still though, Tallahassee and Get Lonely are both rock-solid albums as well, and Life is about as good as them. And when it shines, oh Lord, does it shine: "Ezekiel 7" is one of those songs you want to never end.
Watch: "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficiacy of Grace"
Download: "Genesis 3:23"
(Art: Caravaggio, Blake)
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