The Mountain Goats @ FowlersLive, Adelaide (07/12/08)

Thu 11th Dec, 2008 in Gig Reviews

The Mountain Goats are a rare and particularly special entity. There is a commitment, so impressive, and so respectful that runs deep through John Darnielle and his now 2 strong support\rhythm section. Since 2003 this small troupe has come across the far seas to Australia (and always Adelaide) with almost rhythmic regularity and have now seemingly been here an inordinate amount of times. This is notable mostly because they continually play at club and pub sized venues like Fowlers or Grace Emily, always to an adoring crowd and always with the passion that only a man like Darnielle can manufacture and in turn communicate. Usually that passion has come across through his trademark solo smashing of guitar strings, swirling poetic lyrics and the immediate creation of a personal connection between Darnielle and those that watch in awe. This time, that was all present, except now he has a fully fledged band.

Last time the Mountain Goats came they were only two in number: Darnielle and Peter Hughes, a more than accomplished bassisit with a sense of image and style all his own. On this occasions there was an addition, a drummer in the form of Jon Wurster. His presence served only to tighten the rhythm section up and create an awesomely loud and piercing sound that originally I didn’t think the band was capable of. It was no surprise that a drummer was added as Heretic Pride certainly has a fuller sound with an I dare say it a ‘rockier’ feel than previous post lo-fi Mountain Goats albums. If I was to distil down to one thought what the most impressive thing about the gig was, it was the ability on the part of this relatively ‘new’ band, to nail a rock sound, to sound like more than three and to integrate rhythm and grunt into songs that were powerful before because of it being only one man pouring out his delicate soul. The entire night was enthralling from start to finish. Not a single song was out of place and I can imagine that even somebody who didn’t know the Goats beforehand would have enjoyed this on a simple, musical level. A big call for a band that’s beauty, genius and pull is in idiosyncrasy and individuality.

The set list managed to completely avoid any of the pitfalls that a Mountain Goats set might fall prey to (there really isn’t many). Heretic Pride was adequately if not over-represented. Surprisingly even at one point someone requested In The Craters On The Moon to which Darnielle replied in awe that the person who requests a song off of the new album always gets what he wants. How to Embrace A Swamp Creature was another notable highlight, especially given that is was played after another introduction delivered in the funny, charming, charismatic and slightly erratic style that is all Darnielle’s own. Surprisingly, the discrepancy in sound of old tracks and new tracks wasn’t as large or as noticeable as it has been on record. This was most likely because bar a small handful of songs that the rhythm section weren’t on stage for, songs from Tallahasee and The Sunset Tree almost benefited from this renewed musical vigour and slight change up of texture. A song like You And Your Memory which I personally swore was dependent on the reserved to roar vocals of Darnielle actually worked brilliantly as a semi-rocker. The success of this new sound can no doubt be put down to the band’s sheer ability to be exactly what the Mountain Goats need. Add a bit of guitaring of a pretty high order from Darnielle (who actually ventured somewhat into a bit of feedback and noise work) and the sound can’t fail. There were awesome performances throughout the night with Darnielle solo moments like Southwood Plantation Grove sitting beautifully beside inflated versions of Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod and Game Shows Touch Our Lives. Perhaps the only unusual element of the set list was the only small amount of older lo-fi era songs with perhaps only Song For the Julian Calendar from Full Force Galesburg pushing itself to the fore to be in league with his newer catalogue. And as is expected but always appreciated This Year finished the gig on huge, crowd shouting, hand clapping note as the song false started a couple of times. Not that that was a problem as the crowd just filled in for a minute or two while proper preparations were made.

There was a noticeable and deeply discussed Adelaide affinity too from Darnielle, who commented on the near silence between songs as being “sooo awesome”. He also explained to us that we were a special lot and went through a huge description of how bands tell every town that seem thing, but for once he was being genuine in reference to Adelaide. He even said that when he wrote one of his most recent songs Sign of the Crow, while it has nothing to do with Adelaide, he thought of Adelaide the whole time (crazily the connection yes, is our football team). Do we believe him? He may make up wonderful and highly believable stories when true or not true for a living. There was something in that crowd that night that was truly special and unique and Darnielle was willing to acknowledge it at every turn.

The Mountain Goats could be a cabaret show if they wanted to be. Darnielle’s literate poetry is rich, diverse and so descriptive that it could be a theatre production in front of you. His passion and his facial expressions are almost as important as his music when live so it could be a 90 minute soliloquy. His banter between songs is so funny, informative yet also heartfelt that he could be a comedian and or talk show host. The Mountain Goats deserve to be as close to as many hearts as possible and it is now clear that they come here so often because they love performing here. We love them performing here too, or at least that’s the impression the unadulterated adoration of the crowd and the absorption every individual experienced would indicate.