We review “Days”, new album by The Mountain Goats
Apart from the irrefutable fact that The Mountain Goats have always been (and since they appeared in the mid-nineties and over three decades) a guarantee of satisfaction, the truth is that the last stage of the training led by John Darnielle she seems unleashed. In quantity and quality, in addition to functioning outside of any logic pre-established by the music industry, which pushes the American group to release albums with abnormal frequency and surprising (almost) season after season with a new and proud set of songs.
A trend that has recently left titles such as “Getting Into Knives” (Merge, 20) or “Bleed Out” (Merge, 22) and which is now crowned with what, it is clear from this very moment, could well be the best album of that long and already notable career. A reference that moves easily between the indie-pop with charisma of compositions such as “Crying On Eddie Nash’s Grave”, “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds” or that hit called “Song For Layne Staley”, which opens the album, and the heartfelt folk and Americana that beat in “Going To Fennario”, the heartbreaking “Woodstock” or “Hidden Majesty Of Later Venom Albums”.
A cluster of outstanding pieces among which, in reality, there is no place for any filler, and to which, in any case, we should add that gem that gives the album its title and that could have been signed by Death Cab For Cutie, in addition to the playful “Last Day” that closes the issue (and incidentally refers to Ryan Adams) or the single “Shallow Grave”. On this occasion, Darnielle has seen fit to look back and focus on past characters or bands (from Alice in Chains to Charlie Sheen to Venom or Candlebox) to, using fine irony, portray scenes in the form of songs.
After nearly thirty-five years immersed in the matter and with nothing to prove (nor hypothetical new goals to conquer), The Mountain Goats look as settled as they are natural, in a sequence with which they already insinuate themselves as a classic band, away from the mass focus and presented as a gourmet product for select palates. A group that in the present “Days” It shines liberated, plural, ambitious in the right measure (which translates into the flattering finish of each piece) and full of successes, thus giving away a dozen splendid cuts.
