Staff Reviews

The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

Review by Lauren Strain

Each pared track of Life of the World to Come, The Mountain Goats' 16th – released – album (with vocalist/writer John Darnielle and bassist Peter Hughes joined by Jon Wurster on drums and perc), is named after a book from the Old or New Testament, but to look for any correlation between the songs' imagined intentions and those scriptures would be a tedious approach to deciphering either; besides, the record itself seems to be about the very impossibility of taking any biblical or otherwise faith-based tract as read, because ideas of faith and belief are, themselves, inscrutable. »

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rough trade exclusive with bonus cd 'the life of the world in flux' which features original sketches and abandoned drafty hallways drawn in the writing and forming of the album 'the life of the world to come'. recorded in hotels, buses, living rooms and small studios in colorado, massachusetts, utah, and north carolina. all levels left intact as chance intended. the mountain goats is a durham, north carolina-based band led by american singer-songwriter john darnielle. darnielle began recording in 1991, and is known for his highly literate lyrics and (until 2002) his lo-fi recording style. 'the life of the world to come' is his new 4ad album and is twelve hard lessons the bible taught him. in order to bring this heavenly-themed release to life, john has brought along - in addition to longtime bassist peter hughes - two new do-gooders in the form of superchunk drummer jon wurster, and arcade fire's string arranger owen pallett.
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