Transcendental Youth
As they hide out from the cops, root through garbage, peer paranoid through the blinds, and dig their nails into their hands just for something to do, the protagonists on the Mountain Goats newest are linked not by place or time but by a particular spiritual stance. And a horn section.
In between the release of 2011’s All Eternals Deck and the new Transcendental Youth, 45-year-old Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle became a first-time father—a potential warning sign that gooey new-dad platitudes lie ahead. But instead of moon-faced, toddler-dedicated piano ballads, Youth is a surprisingly dark…
Album number 14 is is as nuanced, as poetic and as brilliant as anything we’ve ever heard from John Darnielle.
John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats have frequently been at their best while capturing characters in dark situations,…
The majority of the album is not different or progressive enough to be exciting - and it’s not enjoyable enough to make up for it.
Songwriter John Darnielle has been one of the more prolific figures in indie rock, turning out album after album of his melodically wistful tunes under the Mountain Goats moniker since he started with poorly recorded cassette albums in the early '90s.
Transcendental Youth, despite its frequent use of a punchy horn section, is bleak, even by Darnielle’s standards. It’s also one of the band’s best.
The insights that John Darnielle offers here are something of a piece with John Lennon’s own post-heroin advice on Plastic Ono Band