California mountain music

Tallahassee

The Mountain Goats

4AD Records

In…

Tallahassee

The Mountain Goats

4AD Records

In Tallahassee’s liner notes, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats graciously thanks “anybody who ever made a record that could be described as ‘ambient dub,’ anywhere, ever; anyone who ever reviewed said album(s) favorably so long as they didn’t get all flowery about it …” This note foreshadows this album’s wit and off-kilter grace.

Darnielle and a number of musicians who change with each recording make up The Mountain Goats, whose name comes from the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song “Big Yellow Coat.”

Darnielle and company, this time around, includes Peter Hughes, Franklin Bruno and Michael Ivins. They must have been dragged kicking and screaming to Tarbox Road Studios in upstate New York, making this album the Goats’ first completely studio recording.

The Mountain Goats began in 1991 when Darnielle worked as a nurse in a California hospital releasing cassette-only albums on the side, California’s influence weighing heavily in his songs. Since then, The Mountain Goats’ albums have mostly been recorded on a Panasonic FT- 500 boom box, using only acoustic guitar, assorted random sounds and the cassette tape hiss. Tony Doogan, famed for producing Belle and Sebastian and Mogwai, produced this album, perhaps contributing to its fuller sound in comparison to previous efforts of The Mountain Goats.

“I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow/ I hope it bleeds all day … I hope I never get sober/ and I hope when you think of me years down the line you can’t find one good thing to say,” Darnielle croons in his often-nasal voice in the upbeat, cheeky ballad “No Children,” which is accentuated by piano, showcasing the album’s central conflict.

Tallahassee revolves around the goings-on of a couple perpetually on the verge of divorce, which are often referred to as the “alpha couple” by fans since the phrase appears within the titles of many of the songs about the couple. This theme may seem pedestrian, but The Mountain Goats manage to pull it off with inventive lyrics and brief, beautiful melodies. One of Darnielle’s many distinctive characteristics is his attachment of urgency to mundane, everyday tasks, giving his work a sense of slice-of-life wonderment.

This album generally stays true to The Mountain Goats’ original acoustic style, with the exception of the eighth track, “See America Right,” which has a more aggressive feel than the others with its bass/guitar/drums drive and Darnielle’s snarl.

This record, though a departure from The Mountain Goats former lo-fi purity, is sheer delight, a story-like album complete with 14 tracks and extensive notes that include poetry.

In one such poem, Darnielle writes, epitomizing the earnest feel of his work, “Let the love of God come and get us if it wants us so bad. We know where we are going when all of this is done.”