The Mountains Goats at MFA

As concert venues go, the Museum of Fine Arts is anachronistic. While most venues, from stadiums to clubs, cultivate an atmosphere in which the audience can match the energy onstage, the MFA is a museum. The small, green-seated theater where concerts take place screens art films by day, and keeps its formality when playing host to bands accustomed to rowdy crowds in bars by night. Shows are introduced by a businesslike, throat-clearing musical director, instruments are arranged like sculpture on the stage, gold cherubs spring from the walls, and dancing is infrequent. Yet, this makes for an unfettered and surprisingly pleasant concert-going experience.

On Friday, March 14th, the theater served as backdrop for the unself-conscious, understated antics of singer-songwriter John Darnielle. Since 1991, Darnielle has written and performed a unique brand of literary-infused lo-fi folk under the name The Mountain Goats. He is known for prolificness, having recorded over 500 songs and performed scores more, and for his poetic lyrical style. Darnielle, who hails from Durham, NC, has been the only Goat at times; currently, The Mountain Goats comprise Darnielle, bassist Peter Hughes, and former Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster. Honorary Goats have included John Vanderslice and Annie Clark of St. Vincent.

Until 2004, Darnielle’s work followed the tangled narratives of fictional characters, which he interwove with anything from references to Aztec mythology to T.S. Eliot soundbytes. After three autobiographical albums- 2004’s We Shall All Be Healed, 2005’s The Sunset Tree, and 2006’s Get Lonely- Darnielle returned to fiction, this February releasing Heretic Pride, which addresses, among other things, spy novels, cults, childbirth, lake monsters, and the death of a reggae icon. Heretic Pride contains none of the tape-hiss of yore, which may be off-putting to some long-time fans, but new instrumentals enhance, rather than distract from, Darnielle’s songwriting.  

Seemingly bizarre song titles like “Autoclave” often have logical explanations: as Darnielle explains in a press release, “I was in Alaska when I read about the discovery of a life-form that can not only survive an autoclave (the instrument used for sterilizing surgical instruments) but which seems to really enjoy the whole autoclave scene…Naturally, this got me to thinking about people whose hearts involuntarily pulverize any good feelings that come within a city block of them.”

Darnielle uses performance to convey the stories in his songs, and the sparseness of the MFA stage showcased his quirkiness. As he got ready to play “Heretic Pride,” which explores anti-religious themes, he joked “I figure if this is so bad, he’ll smite me where I stand. That would be a special show.” During another song, “Sign of the Crow,“ written only a few weeks before, Darnielle exclaimed: “This generation’s waiting for a sign… well, it’s not going to get one.” In between strums, Darnielle becomes his own puppeteer, using his hands to convey emotions, a physical exuberance that contrasts with the soothing, slightly nasal quality of his voice. 

The rapport between Darnielle and Hughes was evident throughout the night, as when Darnielle commented on Hughes’ stylishness, prompting Hughes to let the audience in on a secret- he had bought his embroidered vest on eBay! Most of the songs on the setlist were from Heretic Pride and The Sunset Tree, though they played the classic “No Children,” an ode to an unhappy couple, by request.

Darnielle is unfailingly polite, frequently uttering “thank you very much”s, and his modesty is genuine. Darnielle has little interest in self-aggrandizement, in being an unreachable persona, or in barraging audience members with decibels- unless, of course, controlled volume contributes to his storytelling, in which case he uses it perspicaciously. In the best sense, Darnielle is a creative machine- something like a self-perpetuating wind-up toy who commands a bottomless reservoir of energy- but alongside this Herculean propensity to create, he is human, and that’s what’s most remarkable about watching him onstage.

Setlist:

Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident
Autoclave
New Monster Avenue
Heretic Pride
New Zion
Wild Sage
Michael Myers Resplendent
Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod
Jeff Davis County Blues
Sign of the Crow
I Ain't Living Long Like This <Rodney Crowell>
So Desperate
In the Craters on the Moon
Love Love Love
Lion's Teeth
Sept 15 1983

How to Embrace a Swamp Creature
No Children

- Lilia Kilburn


26 March 2008