Artist: The Mountain Goats Album: "The Sunset Tree" Title of Lable: 4AD Recordings Rating: Four stars out of Five stars
Ever since "Tallahassee," their first record on label 4AD, John Darnielle and the Mountain Goats have increasingly abandoned the chalky lo-fi sound that defined their recordings throughout the '90s. Some fans balked at the sudden studio sound, but it seems unfair to pigeonhole Darnielle into his bedroom with nothing but a guitar and a girlfriend to express music. "The Sunset Tree" is Darnielle's third release on 4AD and represents the further expansion of his songwriting capabilities.
The first instrument heard on the album isn't the trademark frenetically strummed guitar of Darnielle but a lush, clean piano. This is the biggest shift of "The Sunset Tree" - for the first five tracks, the guitar does little more than add an extra percussive rhythm. Piano lines define the album's two catchiest tracks, "Dance Music" and the absolutely stellar "This Year."
These new musical environments don't seem to be a drastic shift in the Mountain Goats' direction but rather a deepening of what Darnielle was already working with. Hey, a nasal voice over guitar can only get you so far, especially with someone as prolific as Darnielle. "Dilaudid" epitomizes the extent to which the Mountain Goats are reaching with aggressive string lines and nothing else.
The second half of "The Sunset Tree" acts as a coda to the bold beginning tracks and is more reminiscent of older Mountain Goats tunes. But there's a slow, somber edge to these tracks as Darnielle tries to recreate the emotions of his troubled and tumultuous childhood. The lyrics aren't as quixotically cute or ingenious as previous albums, but the sincerity of exercising his demons does come through (hell, if Darnielle gives us nothing else, it's wit and sincerity, a rare combo).
"The Sunset Tree" nails the coffin shut on the Mountain Goats' lo-fi era, but anybody who believes credibility comes from self-recording and repetition needs his or her pretentious head checked.
- Avimaan Syam
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