Led by John Darnielle, The Mountain Goats has achieved a distinct stature in the musical realm of folk rock. Due to Darnielle's trademark literary lyrics, The Mountain Goats has garnered a reputation as being one of indie rock's premier smart bands over its 16-year history. The literate rockers will showcase their depth tonight at the Black Cat.
Back in 1991, Darnielle started to perform under the alias "Mountain Goats" during his time at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. Around that time, Darnielle began his tradition of playing music with a diverse group of artists. Much of his early work was performed with an all-girl reggae band named The Casual Girls, and one of their members, Rachel Ware, stuck around with Darnielle for four years playing bass. Darnielle's time spent at Pitzer deeply influenced the literary content of his lyrics, from his integration of Latin quotes to his exploration of mythological themes.
In 2002, Darnielle discarded his exploration of the aforementioned themes in favor of more thematic-driven lyrics and experimental sound design. Specifically, Darnielle embraced low-fidelity recording, as it allowed for the incorporation of such sound flaws as hum, background noise and limited frequency response. This new recording style harmonized with Darnielle's increasingly dark songwriting. In 2002, The Mountain Goats released two albums, "All Hail West Texas" and "Tallahassee," which were Darnielle's first in a series of concept albums. The former album served as a culmination of Darnielle's low-fidelity boom-box recordings, while the latter was recorded in a studio with a band and focused on the trials and tribulations of a fictional couple being torn apart by drug, alcohol and physical abuse.
Two years later, Darnielle took The Mountain Goats in another surprising direction with the release of "We Shall All Be Healed," which marked his first collaboration with producer John Vanderslice, who served as a contributing producer on Spoon's 2005 hit album, "Gimme Fiction." This also marked the first time Darnielle integrated autobiographical material into his songwriting. "We Shall All Be Healed" is an account of Darnielle's experiences with his group of friends addicted to methamphetamine in Portland, Ore. The very next year, Darnielle released his second collaboration with Vanderslice and continued to assimilate autobiographical accounts into his songwriting with 2006's "The Sunset Tree," which earned The Mountain Goats stellar reviews from critics. This was a cathartic album for Darnielle, as it further surveyed his childhood and, more specifically, his time spent with his abusive stepfather.
Last summer, The Mountain Goats released their latest album, "Get Lonely," which chronicles dark periods of Darnielle's love life. The album received mixed reviews, but one noticeable change was the size of the band Darnielle recorded with and the miscellaneous repertoire of instruments, including the vibraphone, which retains a similar appearance to a xylophone, yet boasts aluminum bars instead of wooden bars.
The Mountain Goats is currently on its "Get Lonely" tour. Fans can catch the band tonight at 8 p.m. with Bowerbirds.
