The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

Genre rock Publisher 4AD External Links Official The Mountain Goats Website Official 4AD Website

Some might have thought it would be impossible for John Darnielle's Mountain Goats to produce a decent follow up to 2005's heart-sinking masterpiece The Sunset Tree; an album so steeped in bitter emotion and well composed songwriting that you didn't know whether you should stomp your feet to the catchy arrangements or ball your eyes out to the lyrical content.

This year's release titled Get Lonely may not be the epic folk genius its predecessor was, but it is a perfect piece of morning-after existentialism for such a dramatic night before. Get Lonely, unlike The Sunset Tree is a much more laid back collection of songs. The manic strumming of The Suntset Tree is replaced by a peaceful, lo-fi acoustic taking us back a couple of albums to Tallahassee, except now accompanied with cellos and pianos rather than strings and horns.

Darnielle's usual art school style rambling is also toned down a bit for this album. Instead of his Destroyer-esque croon, most of the album features a softer voice as if he's had enough of life's madness and just wants to take it easy for awhile. This time, Darnielle also takes on the novel song writing idea of getting dumped, but rather than sitting around whining about it he's just trying to accept it and figure out where his life is going to take him next, making the theme as original as the first album ever dedicated to heartbreak.

Get Lonely might not be as catchy and playful as The Mountain Goats previous albums, but it's maturity and existential nature has a way of drawing us in because it's an album we can all relate to. Whether you want to admit it or not, just like the album's raconteur, we've all wandered around aimlessly on cold winter mornings thinking about life and what to do next; and if you haven't, don't buy this album.