The Mountain Goats Album: “Sweden”

Description :

Mountain Goats: John Darnielle (vocals, acoustic guitar); Rachel Ware (vocals, bass). <p>Long before John Darnielle (aka the Mountain Goats) signed with 4AD, and gained greater recognition with more his narrative, confessional albums (see 2005's THE SUNSET TREE), the California-based indie singer-songwriter released his willfully lo-fi recordings at a prolific rate. Issued in 1995, SWEDEN offers up 19 sterling examples of Darnielle's wistful and occasionally whimsical aesthetic, and stands out as one of his finest mid-'90s outings. While it may take the uninitiated a little while to get used to the muffled sound quality, this element merely adds to the strange warmth of tunes such as "Downtown Seoul" and "Send Me an Angel," tracks that fully showcase Darnielle's charmingly nasal vocals and energetic acoustic-guitar playing.

This is an excellent album. The rest of the Mountain goats albums are mostly good, but none is as cohesive as this one. If you are interested in hearing him, this is the one to buy. It will take some getting used to, but you will grow to appreciate what he does. Music that is largely based on lyrical imagery and vocal delivery, but you'll be singing along as well

The Mountain Goats is actually a man by the name of John Darnielle. What this man does with just an acoustic guitar and a voice really has to be heard to be properly understood. You may not be a fan of singer-songwriter types but that's O.K. Neither am I. The Mountain Goas are different. Trust me. On first listen yu will probably notice a couple of things. The recording quality. Darnielle records many of his songs at home on an ordinary tape recorder. That's O.K. The next thing you will notice is his voice. You may not like it. That's O.K. LISTEN TO THE ALBUM. The elegance of his words and the brilliance of his phrasing will sink in. Everything will fall into place. Everything is as it should be. Perfect. This album is about loss. The feeling of desperation you feel when the only person you've ever loved begins to slip away. Sweden conveys those emotions with more honesty than any album I can think of. In particular, "Snow Crush Killing Song". When Darnielle softly sings, "I know you're changing...god damn you for that." you will know. This is a truly beautiful collection of songs. One of those albums that doesn't quite hit you on the first listen but digs in deep with repeated plays. Once it's in, it's in and John Darnielle is your friend for life.

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. The only copy that I have right now is a tape that I copied from vinyl when it came out. I am looking forward to getting it on cd since my tape is almost worn out.

Having been only slightly introduced to the Mountain Goats before purchasing this album, I was disappointed to find out that this album sucks compared to the 2 or so songs that I had heard elsewhere. Not knowing much about their entire musical history, I can't recommend a better album, but they must have one.