The new album from The Mountain Goats is out on 4AD on 10/6 and it has the theme of religion! It's called The Life Of The World To Come. Less a profession of religious faith than an immersion in Biblical poetry and imagery, the songs on The Life of the World to Come take their names from verses that informed or inspired them, or which, sometimes, came up against them at right angles.
You can download or stream the whole thing above, read more about it below, and listen to a track "Genesis 3:23" here: http://static.4ad.com/audio/themount...nesis_3_23.mp3
THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME
Somewhere in between 2007 and 2009 the same stuff started happening in John Darnielle's life that happens in everybody else's life: some people got sick, and some people stayed sick, and some people died young, and John started doing what he does when things go south, i.e., turning to old religious texts both musical & otherwise and trying to take comfort in creeds and prayers that he can't wholly buy into. In what friends (wrongly, in John's opinion) thought an excessive gesture, he bought an Amy Grant box set. He learned about an amazing songwriter named Rich Mullins, who largely gets overlooked by people who don't listen to Christian music, and he listened to Vaisnava Kirtans, and he listened to Yolanda Adams. He played hymns when he could, and he prayed the odd prayers of the faithless, and then sat down and wrote songs about what happens when you feel sick in your spirit but you're not sure if "spirit" is really a meaningful term.
The songs that flowed out of him to make this album brewed from all of these influences converging in his time of need. He dug deeply into his longstanding love of the Bible, and tried to write honestly about wanting to believe. The songs that came out are about losing people you love, and leaving places to which you can't return, and about things from which people don't & can't recover. They are about faith and doubt and the long dark hallways that run between the two.
The Mountain Goats is, and has been for the last few albums, comprised of John Darnielle, Jon Wurster and Peter Hughes.
The Life of the World to Come was recorded across three studios with three producers, from April through June of 2009: with Brandon Eggleston at Chicago's Electrical Audio; with John Congleton at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas; and with Scott Solter at Baucom Road in Monroe, North Carolina. Owen Pallet (aka Final Fantasy), with whom the band shared a stage in Australia this past January at the Meredith Music Festival, arranged & played strings. The songs find John playing piano more than he has in the recent past, although it's the only instrument on which he has any formal training. As of press time, no members of the Mountain Goats had joined up with the Vineyard Fellowship, but do watch this space: there are stranger things in Heaven & earth, et cetera.
The Mountain Goats US Tour Dates
http://www.mountain-goats.com/
all U.S. dates from 4 November through 2 December are full band shows, and all shows will be opened by Final Fantasy.
November
4 - Ladies Literary Club (Calvin College), Grand Rapids, MI
5 - the Metro, Chicago, IL
6 - High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
7 - Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis, MN
10 - the Showbox, Seattle, WA
11 - Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
14 - the Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
15 - Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
18 - Antones, Austin, TX
19 - Granada Theater, Dallas TX
20 - Mercy Lounge, Nashville TN
21 - the Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
23 - the Social, Orlando, FL
24 - Café 11, St. Augustine, FL
27 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
28 - Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
29 - Wilbur Theatre, Boston MA
December
1 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
2 - Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
You can download or stream the whole thing above, read more about it below, and listen to a track "Genesis 3:23" here: http://static.4ad.com/audio/themount...nesis_3_23.mp3
THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME
Somewhere in between 2007 and 2009 the same stuff started happening in John Darnielle's life that happens in everybody else's life: some people got sick, and some people stayed sick, and some people died young, and John started doing what he does when things go south, i.e., turning to old religious texts both musical & otherwise and trying to take comfort in creeds and prayers that he can't wholly buy into. In what friends (wrongly, in John's opinion) thought an excessive gesture, he bought an Amy Grant box set. He learned about an amazing songwriter named Rich Mullins, who largely gets overlooked by people who don't listen to Christian music, and he listened to Vaisnava Kirtans, and he listened to Yolanda Adams. He played hymns when he could, and he prayed the odd prayers of the faithless, and then sat down and wrote songs about what happens when you feel sick in your spirit but you're not sure if "spirit" is really a meaningful term.
The songs that flowed out of him to make this album brewed from all of these influences converging in his time of need. He dug deeply into his longstanding love of the Bible, and tried to write honestly about wanting to believe. The songs that came out are about losing people you love, and leaving places to which you can't return, and about things from which people don't & can't recover. They are about faith and doubt and the long dark hallways that run between the two.
The Mountain Goats is, and has been for the last few albums, comprised of John Darnielle, Jon Wurster and Peter Hughes.
The Life of the World to Come was recorded across three studios with three producers, from April through June of 2009: with Brandon Eggleston at Chicago's Electrical Audio; with John Congleton at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas; and with Scott Solter at Baucom Road in Monroe, North Carolina. Owen Pallet (aka Final Fantasy), with whom the band shared a stage in Australia this past January at the Meredith Music Festival, arranged & played strings. The songs find John playing piano more than he has in the recent past, although it's the only instrument on which he has any formal training. As of press time, no members of the Mountain Goats had joined up with the Vineyard Fellowship, but do watch this space: there are stranger things in Heaven & earth, et cetera.
The Mountain Goats US Tour Dates
http://www.mountain-goats.com/
all U.S. dates from 4 November through 2 December are full band shows, and all shows will be opened by Final Fantasy.
November
4 - Ladies Literary Club (Calvin College), Grand Rapids, MI
5 - the Metro, Chicago, IL
6 - High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
7 - Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis, MN
10 - the Showbox, Seattle, WA
11 - Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
14 - the Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
15 - Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
18 - Antones, Austin, TX
19 - Granada Theater, Dallas TX
20 - Mercy Lounge, Nashville TN
21 - the Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
23 - the Social, Orlando, FL
24 - Café 11, St. Augustine, FL
27 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
28 - Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
29 - Wilbur Theatre, Boston MA
December
1 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
2 - Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
