Click here for photos of The Mountain Goats at The Warfield in San Francisco, CA on May 5th, 2022
Click here for photos of John Darnielle at 180 Varick in New York, NY on January 16th, 2013
Click here for photos of The Mountain Goats at Antone’s in Austin, TX on January 19th, 2012
Click here for photos of The Mountain Goats at 2011 Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, PQ, Canada
Click here for photos of The Mountain Goats at 2010 Harvest of Hope Festival in St. Augustine, FL
Click here for photos of The Mountain Goats at Webster Hall in New York, NY on March 18th, 2008
John Darnielle’s hyper-literate tendencies as The Mountain Goats can sometimes be a bit much, and/or can his way of making albums about one, rather random concept. But sometimes, it all can really work, such as when he takes on twentieth century action films in Bleed Out.
The action movie has its natural anthems, something that Darnielle’s power-pop ability married very well with. And his intellect can do this more straight-up such as opener “Training Montage”, or straight-faced irony with takedowns “Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome” and “First Blood”. Of course, a record steeped in the eighties has some saxophone, the evening drive of “Extraction Point” and the funkier city of “Guys on Every Corner”. And there’s even just a great example of Darnielle’s usual hyper-literate take in “Hostages”.
Conceptual, intellectual records naturally vary in quality depending on the material and the author, and John Darnielle is nothing if not conceptual & intellectual. And he hits it quite hard with Bleed Out.