This small beautiful song, a simple chard structure, a voice and a guitar, is the purest distillation of everything that John elaborates and explores in The Sunset Tree. It's quite

This small beautiful song, a simple chard structure, a voice and a guitar, is the purest distillation of everything that John elaborates and explores in The Sunset Tree. It's quite shockingly painful, a story of smallness, helplessness, and the places people go in their heads when bad things happen. It's

This gorgeous song is two vignettes of two different types of trauma. Both told in the same stream of consciousness moment-of life style, as if jumping straight into a memory

This gorgeous song is two vignettes of two different types of trauma. Both told in the same stream of consciousness moment-of life style, as if jumping straight into a memory already in progress. The first and simplest is about the fear of physical harm: harm to the self, harm to

God, this is going to be a month. The first thing to note about this song is that by the standards of the Mountain Goats it's incredibly simple. A narrative

God, this is going to be a month. The first thing to note about this song is that by the standards of the Mountain Goats it's incredibly simple. A narrative without allusion, without hiding. The events of a young man in pain contemplating something. The rest of the album is

End of the month, time for a rarity, and this feels very much like a song that acts as a portent of times yet to come. The conceit of this

End of the month, time for a rarity, and this feels very much like a song that acts as a portent of times yet to come. The conceit of this song is that it's written from the point of view of a person who is changing into a pig, and

Is whimsical catharsis a thing? This song is light and beautiful and soft, a gentle account of the things we hang onto, the memories that pain us, the scabs we

Is whimsical catharsis a thing? This song is light and beautiful and soft, a gentle account of the things we hang onto, the memories that pain us, the scabs we pick at, the guilt we tend and maintain, and an easy instruction to do the hardest thing possible. Leave it

This is a fragment, an unreleased song that only exists in versions from radio stations and live shows. And as such it's easy to see the ideas that started here

This is a fragment, an unreleased song that only exists in versions from radio stations and live shows. And as such it's easy to see the ideas that started here and came out later. The line stared down demons, came back breathing felt like a preview of You Were Cool

I don't know if there's such a thing as a stadium anthem of eschatological nihilism, but if there is, that's this song. A huge and momentous sound to this song,

I don't know if there's such a thing as a stadium anthem of eschatological nihilism, but if there is, that's this song. A huge and momentous sound to this song, coupled with lyrics that start with a narrow focus of the mundane and horrifying, but can't help but look up

This song is two things. First of all, it's a song played on a bus while someone is being taken to jail. Second of all, it's a song of the

This song is two things. First of all, it's a song played on a bus while someone is being taken to jail. Second of all, it's a song of the heart and of triumph. We Shall All Be healed is a remarkable and powerful album, but it's also kind of

A rolling boil of paranoia, this is a song about scoring. The mania and the on-edge nature of looking desperately for something, caught in the rabid simplicity of needing your

A rolling boil of paranoia, this is a song about scoring. The mania and the on-edge nature of looking desperately for something, caught in the rabid simplicity of needing your fix and nothing else. Everything about the song here, from the lyrics to the instrumentation to the mix, is a

Sometimes the simplicity and audacity of a song just wash over you. Mole is a simple, tiny melody, a story of an addict going to visit another addict in a

Sometimes the simplicity and audacity of a song just wash over you. Mole is a simple, tiny melody, a story of an addict going to visit another addict in a hospital bed that had been gained via misadventure. Small and sad and kept afloat by a false hope of better

So, going to start by looking at the musicality here. This is an absolute joy of a mid century ballad. The way the guitar and bass and piano wrap around

So, going to start by looking at the musicality here. This is an absolute joy of a mid century ballad. The way the guitar and bass and piano wrap around each other and the repeated poetic refrains. I can't imagine exactly what the musical this came from would be, but

A really gorgeous post-punk sound to this one, and a style of song that has a number of my favourite features of Mountain Goats songs. I've never done methamphetamine. For

A really gorgeous post-punk sound to this one, and a style of song that has a number of my favourite features of Mountain Goats songs. I've never done methamphetamine. For so many reasons. One of the more minor ones is that someone once descibed the feeling of it to me

Still in the We Shall All Be Healed headspace, this is a b-side from a Mountain Goats single and also a quiet and assured banger. The rhyme scheme and melody

Still in the We Shall All Be Healed headspace, this is a b-side from a Mountain Goats single and also a quiet and assured banger. The rhyme scheme and melody are the sketch of an idea that will one day become Lovecraft In Brooklyn (more on that later), and the

We've hit another pre-existing favourite. The opening line of this has been following me around online for like fifteen years now. And when the strings come in at the line

We've hit another pre-existing favourite. The opening line of this has been following me around online for like fifteen years now. And when the strings come in at the line hungry for love, ready to drown this song flies. There's something about a sing about desperate lost youth who are

This is the sound of the high, the sound of contented paranoia. This whole album is about the things people go through during addiction, and this is about the worst

This is the sound of the high, the sound of contented paranoia. This whole album is about the things people go through during addiction, and this is about the worst part: the pleasure. From the droning guitar to the half spoken lyrics, this is the sound of lethargy masquerading as

My god, this song is huge. The soundscape is vast, the lyrics cryptic and visionary, everything about it is the overture for a statement of strangeness and desperation and hope.

My god, this song is huge. The soundscape is vast, the lyrics cryptic and visionary, everything about it is the overture for a statement of strangeness and desperation and hope. This is a sing by a slightly older man from the perspective of his younger self, viewing nihilism from the

So we're in the heyday of songs about smuggling, then. This is tense and lyrical, an ode to the emotions of doing something unwise and uncertain because you have to

So we're in the heyday of songs about smuggling, then. This is tense and lyrical, an ode to the emotions of doing something unwise and uncertain because you have to and you want to and it's the only way to get money. This is a dark song about hope, or

This song is smoky and slow and tired. The lyrics in this, the live version, possibly the only version, are tired and strange and doubt themselves. And it's amazing It

This song is smoky and slow and tired. The lyrics in this, the live version, possibly the only version, are tired and strange and doubt themselves. And it's amazing It is what it sounds like. A song about burning yourself out of your own mind. I got five minutes sleep,

If you've never heard a picaresque song about people smugglers heading across country in a u-haul... well, now you have. Like the best Mountain Goats songs, this one is a

If you've never heard a picaresque song about people smugglers heading across country in a u-haul... well, now you have. Like the best Mountain Goats songs, this one is a cheerful knife to the heart, with a combination of tenderness and cruelty. The result is a gentle portrait of ungentle