Mountain Goats, The - The Life of The World to Come

[Adam Pfleider]

The Mountain Goats - The Life of The World to Come
Release Date: October 6, 2009
Record Label: 4AD

Religion and belief are two things that have never been detached from music, both lyrically and visually in videos and in a live setting. Unlike actually talking about religion (well, arguable with some outspoken musicians), music can give way to exploring one's own thoughts without sounding overly preaching or self-prophesying.

John Darnielle is certainly wearing his Bible on his sleeve for the 17th installment of his project The Mountain Goats.

Each track bares a verse as its name, but don't expect a Sunday morning reading, Darnielle has his own words to say about the good book and old world hymns set to the slow opening "1 Samuel 15:23" to the closing vocal-piano bout "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy Of Grace." If there's one thing to notice about the new album, it is its stream of conscious lyrical flow. I'm not saying this wasn't present on past works, but it's definitely more apparent this time around.

The bit of off flow between the vocals and the instruments is what makes The Life of the World to Come feel as natural as its subject matter. "Hebrews 11:40" is glorious, sounding of an artist and his guitar simply playing while little things here and there are happening around him. "Romans 10:9" is an upbeat ditty where Darnielle tries to cram more words than he can fit into each phrase, and it's not awkward at all, but instead, makes the song.

The offset of the album is its ability to grab the listener. The songs are great, and the album is worth checking out, but unlike a few back catalog albums, coming back will be like dusting off the Bible that's just sitting on the nightstand for some sort of personal comfort.

The Life of the World to Come is worth taking a listen to, but for his 17th album, Darnielle has a lot more to offer in his discography. If you're willing to check this out, I would also suggest diving into the Old Testament of The Mountain Goats as well.

1. 1 Samuel 15:23
2. Psalms 40:2
3. Genesis 3:23
4. Philippians 3:20-21
5. Hebrews 11:40
6. Genesis 30:3
7. Romans 10:91
8. John 4:16
9. Matthew 25:21
10. Deuteronomy 2:10
11. Isaiah 45:23
12. Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace

The Decemberists' The Crane Wife; Right Away, Great Captain!'s The Eventually Home; John K. Samson's Little Pictures EP; Cursive's Mama, I'm Swollen

[spartanfan10]

I completely disagree with your first statement. I think talking about religion is a great thing when done in open discourse, while singing about religion almost always comes off as preachy. However, Darnielle not being religious but interested and appreciative of it is a very peculiar but thought provoking situation. Looking forward to hearing this record, though I think this review is pretty awful.

[Adam Pfleider]

I completely disagree with your first statement. I think talking about religion is a great thing when done in open discourse, while singing about religion almost always comes off as preachy. However, Darnielle not being religious but interested and appreciative of it is a very peculiar but thought provoking situation. Looking forward to hearing this record, though I think this review is pretty awful.
actually, he had a lot happen to him in the time up to creating this record where he went back and began looking over hymnals and religious writings. yes, he's not preaching/talking about religion specifically, but like I said, he's using the ideology of it as an intermediary to express what he was going through at the time. I applaud him for it, and some tracks came out stellar, but as a whole, I think he's done better, that's not to say it's a horrible album.

but yeah, I would check it out. I stick by what I said above in the review though.

[spartanfan10]

That last post was more concise, I fear my response may not have been as well. I agree that it's a really interesting of religion and pretty cool, and have heard from other Mountain Goats fans that he has had better as well. The preaching thing was more of a generalization, not having to do with specific record. I must also say that I didn't feel the newest mw/oY was that preachy either, though it didn't grab me at first, it was a grower.

[Matthew Tsai]

I completely disagree with your first statement. I think talking about religion is a great thing when done in open discourse, while singing about religion almost always comes off as preachy. However, Darnielle not being religious but interested and appreciative of it is a very peculiar but thought provoking situation. Looking forward to hearing this record, though I think this review is pretty awful.
Considering music is inherently spiritual, that's a stupid thing to say. How is it preaching at you anyway? It's just stating beliefs. It's not telling you to repent or anything, at least not in this case.

[doppelganger]

this cd is good stuff. john darnielle is the man. the stories that he tells in relation to the bible verse are all really cool. there was an interview where he talked about some of the songs on pitchfork.

[Moostachemusic]

Good review, agree with the rating!