The Mountain Goats – Get Lonely – 2006
Get Lonely will always have a very special place in my heart. If you scroll down this blog you’ll see the video for “Woke Up New”, a song that perfectly describes my feelings of loss after my daughter Lizzie died.
The album gets points for having that song. If a song can make me cry every single time I hear it, it deserves a special place in my world.
The entire album is of no surprise; Darnielle tells you what to expect in the title. Unlike the last three Mountain Goats albums this one’s title is descriptive. The Mountain Goats get lonely. The songs are about being alone. Left. Abandoned. Isolated. Interestingly, they are all more accessible than most of the ones that we’ve been listening to. It’s as though the catchiness of “You or Your Memory” took hold and, in the case of, say, “Half Dead”, could be recorded by Jimmy Buffett. Save the isolation, desperation, sadness, etc.
There are moments on Get Lonely that I highly suggest not be listened to if you are a) recently dumped by a girlfriend b) very very high and paranoid or c) very drunk on single malt anything. The title track and the next song “Maybe Sprout Wings” are enough to elicit a complete sense of hopelessness. A life bereft of reason. Darnielle was married at the time he wrote and produced this album which suggests not that it’s autobiographical, but that he is a brilliant writer of fiction. Able to craft characters so real and inhabit them & paint them so vividly that its impossible not to think they are all confessional.
That singular focus of Get Lonely can get a bit weary. It’s a lot to ask of an audience to sit through a dozen songs about being sad that you are alone. The good news is that John Darnielle is also a good songwriter but, if you’ve been with the Goats so far, you can pass on this one. Get “Woke Up New”, though. That’s a keeper.
Grade: B
ASide: Woke Up New
BlindSide: New Monster Avenue, Maybe Sprout Wings, If You See Light
Review number 468
