The Mountain Goats'Tallahassee'

4ad Records

Grade: B+


The Mountain Goats' newest CD, "Tallahassee," covers familiar territory for the low-fi acoustic loving college crowd, yet the Goats cover it with a powerful intensity that brings an air of melancholy not often heard. The album is a mix of Southern tinged depression, drunken uncertainty and sardonic humor.

The Mountain Goats have been through many changes through the years but singer/songwriter John Darnielle has always remained at the helm. He provides alternatively anguished and hopeful lyrics as well as sorrowful melodies to the mix. On "Tallahassee," Darnielle is joined by instrumentalist Peter Hughes.

Hughes plays a wide range of instruments on "Tallahassee" - everything from drums to harmonica, and even an organ. With subtle distorted murmurs of melody, Hughes adds a haunting touch to an already depressing album. The subtle distortion creeping in behind the acoustic guitar is slow to hit, but once it does, it adds not only depth to the songs but the powerful emotions of a forgotten child lurking in the background.

Darnielle's voice is not perfect, sometimes whiny and strained. Yet, his unpolished voice makes the anguish of his words all the more realistic, so lyrics like "People say friends don't destroy one another / What do they know about friends?" hit uncomfortably close to home.

Many of the songs on "Tallahassee" are soft, airy and full of longing, while others like "See America Right" hit hard with the vengeance of a scorned lover. The main focus of the album seems to be an unnamed couple passionately in love with each other but constantly struggling to stay together. Although the album was recorded in upstate New York, it contains a steady stream of references to the South (Louisiana graveyard, Plantation Road, etc.) that invoke thoughts of a place where depression lurks around every corner and old traditions are hard to bury.

"Southwood Plantation Road" is a fast paced song, full of hope and the exuberance of new lovers. Darnielle infuses the song with wit and glimmers of optimism amongst bad circumstances: "I've got you, you got whatever is left of me to get / Our conversations are like minefields, no one has found a safe way through one yet."

On one of the album's most powerful songs, "The House that Dripped Blood," Hughes lends a harmonica solo straight out of an early Dylan song, while Darnielle wails about the trappings of a doomed relationship, "Still waters go stagnant, bodies bloat / And the cellar door is an open throat." In "No Children," Darnielle displays his talent for tongue-in-cheek humor: "I hope we come off with a failsafe plot to piss off the dumb few that forgave us." Meanwhile, Hughes gives the song the feeling of a Western saloon with a corresponding piano melody.

"Tallahassee" is an album full of anxiety and sorrow. It is highly moving as it gently creeps its way into your head and shows up later in your dreams. For all of its acoustic pain and Southern yearning, this powerful album is an impressive effort.