Customer Reviews

The Sunset Tree

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I consider this the best release of the year, which is all the more surprising since I am not particularly fond of the Mountain Goats previous work. John Darnielle has written far and away the best lyrics of any disc this year. The tunes are not always up to the stories, but the images his songs present and the emotions they evoke are phenomenal. John Darnielle does not have a particularly great voice either, in fact some may find it almost grating, but he has the best delivery I have ever heard. "This Year' is the standout song on the disc. Never has a song presented the feeling of being a disillusioned teen so well. The chorus "I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me." will resound in your ears. It is a song that the worst of us singers want to scream along with as it blasts out of our car radios. "locking eyes, holding hands twin high maintenance machines." I love that line. "The scene ends badly as you might imagine in a cavalcade of anger and fear." Is followed by "There will be feasting and dancing in Jeruselum next year." He Juxtaposes images of dread with hope. It's brilliant stuff. Some of his images are admittedly difficult to grasp. But there is hope amidst despair throughout this brilliant tale. Old fans may find this disc overproduced, but i heartily disagree. Every string and keyboard is gorgeous. Check out the strings on "Dilaudid". They evoke the feeling of a deep despair and self destruction like a simpler production could never achieve. Enough said. If you have not yet heard this disc buy it now.

I bought The Sunset Tree a week ago, sight unseen and note unheard. I listened to my other purchases first, since I was relatively familiar with them and knew what I was getting. Then I peeled off the celophane and popped in The Sunset Tree. No idea what to expect... I thought, upon the first notes of You or Your Memory, 'my god what an awful nasal voice'... then- 'oh.' Then lying on the floor watching the ceiling fan turn thinking, 'this is the most perfect album. There is no other way for this to be.' I am a self-employed artist and listen to music all day, and into the evening, as I work. This cd makes it hard to go to bed at night. It would almost be better to just sit still by the stereo and listen, over and over again, to this quiet steel masterpiece. I can't say enough, but it would be too much. Just buy this, and save yourself an afternoon or two or three, to really listen to it.

Mountain Goats is basically one man, John Darnielle, a superb lyricist and a singer whose voice sounds both sandpapery and tentative. He sings here of life with an abusive stepfather, a subject not exactly made for easy listening, but The Sunset Tree, a humane and sympathetic freeing from a sad past, is not bitter, achieves strength and -- particularly in Song for Dennis Brown -- addresses some universal and inescapable experiences.

This might sound like dreary medicine to take, but instead it's good and almost pleasant listening. There is a cheerful, pop edge to some of the music, most notably in Dance Music and This Year. A greater reason, though, is Darnielle's own storytelling -- his stepfather sounds like a monster, but he is not denied his own humanity ("you are sleeping off your demons") and Darnielle even manages -- on hearing of the man's death -- to recall a fragile good memory, going together in an early morning years previously to watch horses work out. It helps too that in this history Darnielle recogizes his own teenaged self as not exactly perfect, describing himself and a girlfriend as "twin high-maintenance machines."

In its unflinching look at and ultimate release from past pain, The Sunset Tree was one of the best albums of 2005. It's ambitious, mature, realized, and -- not least -- tuneful. Buy it.

At a live show John Darnielle (who, despite his objections to such statements, IS the Mountain Goats) once told a story about being in an interview in Germany where he was trying to say something about one of his songs was questioned by the interviewer who said "Yes, well maybe, but you are famous liar!"

This idea rises from the fact that through the dozen or so Mountain Goats records that have proceeded Sunset Tree John Darnielle has created an entire emotional universe populated with fictional characters, fictional travels and historicaly based fictional stories all injected with heavy doses of genuine and real emotion.

So how excited was I when i heard that the new MG album was going to be based not off fictional characters but off of Darnielle's own life growing up in Southern california with an abusive step father.

I did wonder if he would be able to maintain the kind of emotional subjectivity that made his early songs so enjoyable. Confesionalist whining has its place and in my mind it is not in a mountain goats song.

How pleased was I when i finally got my hot little hands on this album and found that John Darnielle was able to treat his own dark moments with the kind of emotional honesty and humor that made albums like "All Hail west Texas" and "Tallahassee" the great albums they were.

As mentioned in the other review this is the third album where John has utilized multipl instruments, a big departure from his original one-dude-with-one-guitar set up. Even though it would be impossible to call this new incarnation low-fi there is something very elemental about it that holds true to the low fi ideal of shunning over production. For example the song "Dilaudid" consists of only Darnielle's nasal lyrics and a string section. It is both beautiful and primal.

There are lulls in the album as there have been with the last two studio albums. these lulls however fall between some of the greater pop songs I have heard this year. "Dance Music" instantly cimbed to the top of my favorite pop song list and other songs like "This Year" and "Broom "People" have the same hope-in-the-face-of-utter-hopelessness quality that makes all Mountain Goats albums the emotional treasure troves they are.

I won't go on and on but definitely download the few free songs linked to on Amazon, definitely go out and by the album and if you really wan to experience the Mountain Goats, go and see them live. You will not forget the experience soon.

To read my over all write up of the Mountain goats go to:
http://thedailykirk.blogs.com/the_daily_kirk/2005/04/the_mountain_go.html

I'm a long long time Mountain Goats fans, from back in the day when he was putting out cassettes on Shrimper, and I have to say, this is a huge step up for John Darnielle -- very possibly the best record in his entire discography.

Just last night I saw him play at the Knitting Factory in New York, and part of me wants to say that one of the *reasons* he's stepped up his game so much is that he has finally found a team of musicians to truly capture the intensity of his always great lyrics. (The fact that he's finally singing about the child abuse that's surely the source for that holy fire also seems to help, too.)

Anyway, I'd suggest checking out not only the rest of John Darnielle's discography, but that of his contributors -- Erik Friedlander's solo record Maldoror, John Vanderslice's solo stuff (Erik plays on a new record coming in August), Shearwater, et. al.

Maybe people only listen to music for the vocals, but if you've been as impressed as I have by the MUSIC behind The Sunset Tree, you might enjoy all these discs.

In early 2005, I was looking for good Lo-Fi music, and someone reccomended The Mountain Goats. I then downloaded the b-side collection, Ghana, and gave it a listen. It was fun, sure, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

I then read a review for The Sunset Tree, and decided to download it. It took me over a month to get around to the album, but when I did, it lead to a two week hear-in. I attempted to listen to other music, but it was no use. The Sunset Tree had taken hold.

You'll notice that the title for this review is "I weep at the mere thought of this album", and it's quite true. I began reading a blurb for the album, but was unable to finish until many minutes later, due to the fact that, for no reason, I had started crying at the mere thought. I put the album on, and I got to "Pale Green Things", and broke down. This had never happened before, in response to anything ever.

If I were asked what the best album of this decade has been, I wouldn't spend any time thinking, as I would already know that the answer is The Sunset Tree. In all of it's beauty and wonder. It wouldn't surprise me if The Mountain Goats didn't get big. But it still disappoints me that this album hasn't made them a household name.

So, what else is there to say? I can only say that this is an album that everyone should own. In an age where youths know the lyrics of cookie cutter bands by heart, it makes me hurt to think that such beauty is often overlooked.

This is the first Mountain Goats album I've ever picked up. Every song on the recording is excellent and particularly the lyrics are fantastic. I was amazed that anyone could write a song titled "Hast thou considered the tetrapod" and make it not only work, but seem like the most pertinent metaphor for escaping a hellish situation. And that was just one of the songs. "Up the wolves" employs anther metaphor which blew my mind once I actually got what John Darnielle, the singer, songwriter, etc. etc., was saying. With so many great songs, I thought I have a hard time picking a favorite, but "Love, love, love" is easily in the top spot with "Song for Dennis Brown" close behind. I laughed like a goon the first time I heard both songs and they still make me laugh even though they are such downers. That's Darnielle's magic - taking the tragic and brutal and disarming it beautifully. The lyrical quality is complemented by first-rate music as well. Darnielle is good but Friedlander on cello is an unusual accompanyist, but it works really well, especially on the cello-heavy songs like "Dilaudid."

If you have never heard of this band and you enjoy a healthy round of gallows humor - pick it up. You will not regret purchasing this album sight unseen.

Amazingly-written record about childhood tribulations with girls, alcohol and general teenage angst, set against a backdrop of life with an abusive, alcoholic stepfather. Lesser songwriters would dwell on the dispairing nature of this lyrical fodder. But far from wallowing in self pity, songwriter John Darnielle's character takes on an almost defiant tone, trying to wring everything he can out of life - because of rather than in spite of - what lies waiting for him when he returns home. All of this is cocooned inside an earnest, acoustic chamber pop with simple guitar/piano interplay and flat percussion. It's catchy, it's smart, and it's dripping with pathos.

I'm new to this 'Aggressively seek out every good album that comes out' thing. Thus, I'd never heard of Darnielle before, even though he apparently has a huge indie rep. Apparently he was popular among hipster crowds for recording his first few albums on a tape recorder. And although he records in a studio now, his music still mostly carries the indie staple of having simple guitar rythyms crafted to focus your attention to the melodic vocals. All the songs are uptempo and hold your attention from beginning to end, making The Sunset Tree one of the most engaging albums of the year.

The songs are mostly autobiographical and deeply emotional, about being abused by his stepfather on his childhood. The approach to said abuse is explicit, but manages to be inspirational instead of whiny. Written on the album sleeve is: "Dedicated to any young men and women anywhere who live with people who abuse them, with the following good news: you are going to make it out of there alive." The lyrics come at you so fast that sometimes it's hard to decode them, but among those that you do decode are 'I am going to make it through this year if it kills me'. The best track on the album is probably 'Dance Music', in which he recounts running upstairs and listening to dance music when he stepfather is yelling at and throwing whiskey bottles at his mother.

The message of the album does come across, not to let a bad situation destroy you. And the music is strong enough that anyone who likes indie rock should like this album.

Okay, so I'm by no means an uber-fan, and I don't have all 308 Mountain Goats albums, but of the few that I do have, this is easily the best. I don't always "get" Darnielle's songs, lyrically, but The Sunset Tree has some of his most straightforward songs. My favorites are "The Broom People", "This Year" and "Dance Music", all of which are beautiful songs with really moving lyrics. Just when I though I didn't care much for The Mountain Goats, here's a reason to keep listening!