20 for 2005 (#14): The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree

I once heard a story that for a period of time John Darnielle would, every day, watch an episode of Law & Order and then write a song about it. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it very well might be. He seems to have written twenty million songs about love gone wrong and people on the lamb. The Sunset Tree is easily his most polished record to date, but the extra sparkle doesn't hide the dark adventures of his songs. I've often thought Darnielle was this generation's Woody Guthrie. Rather than songs about droughts and fascists though we get songs about absent dads and running away in stolen cars. Same stuff, really.

MP3 The Mountain Goats - This Year

Posted by Mark Allen on Saturday, December 17, 2005 Comments (0)