Album Review: Songs for Pierre Chuvin by The Mountain Goats

Release Date: April 17 2020

A disclaimer for this review: The Mountain Goats are my favourite musical act ever, so I’m definitely prone to a favouritism bias. The Mountain Goats are a band that is a four piece, but is mainly the work of frontman/novelist John Darnielle, they’ve been making music since 1991, I love every one of they’re albums. Unlike The Mountain Goat’s last two albums, which had a higher production quality, “Songs for Pierre Chuvin” goes back to their more classic sound. I hesitate to call this an album, because it differs from the other Mountain Goats studio albums, in that it has no obvious Concept. This is more a collection of songs. Most of the tracks have a spoken message at the start of the song, describing the recording process. There are very few instruments used other than an acoustic guitar. The album cover is a simple drawing. All of these factors add to the DIY feel of the album. Since I’m such a huge fan of The Mountain Goats, vocally it was perfect, John Darnielle’s voice is familiar, expressive and dramatic. The writing in Mountain Goats has always been phenomenal, and it doesn’t change here. The Lyrics may at first seem random and nonsensical, until you discover the meaning of the song, and then each line or observation falls into place. As is true to their writing style, in this album, they use Larger than life, sometimes historical and fantasy adventure story-esque lyrics to describe everyday struggles. I love this technique, it’s entertaining, thought provoking and sometimes humorous how dramatic each situation becomes. I loved this album. I wasn’t surprised, but also delighted, yet another classic mountain goats instalment. You might not love it as much as I did, I think to really really appreciate it, you first have to really really be into The Mountain Goats and understand what is trying to be said. I will make a Mountain Goats themed post soon, I just need to decide what to do it about. Maybe a classic album review.

Favourite Songs: Aulon Raid, Until Olympius Returns, Last Gaspat Calama, For The Snakes, January 31 438, Hopeful Assassins of Zeno, Going to Lebanon, Exegetic Chains.

Score: 9.2/10

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#themountaingoats #songsforpierrechuvin