The Sunset Tree (studio album) by The Mountain Goats

Somehow this albums become as relevant in 2020 as it was when it was first released.

Kind of feels like holding someone else's diary, but without the guilt. Really good storytelling - reminds me of Raymond Carver quite a bit? A good album if you're going through a shit time.

"Lean in close to my little record player on the floor.
So this is what the volume knob is for"

Best Tracks: Dance Music, Magpie

From Komorebi-D 03/19/2017 11:01

An extremely personal document. Becomes more addictive with longer exposure.

From glitter-bubbles 04/10/2015 16:33

I like this album more every time I listen to it.

From paladisiac 12/10/2011 03:42

John Darnielle of the mountain goats is the preacher before the dawn, telling intricate, interesting tales of characters giving abandon to hope and hope to hopelessness. As he said in a recent interview (paraphrased), his characters are like a good friend who's also a chronic liar. "The Sunset Tree" probably contains my favorite mountain goats song of all-time, "this year" with a chorus of "i am going to make it through this year if it kills me" sung with conviction and testament of having a bad year, starting with abandon singing "I broke free on a saturday morning. / I put the pedal to the floor. / headed north on mills avenue, / and listened to the engine roar." (i LOVE singing the line "there will be feasting and dancing in jerusalum next year!" for some odd reason.) i hear that sentiment again on opener "you or your memory" where Darnielle's character reaches for some courage singing "down there in the dark i could see the real truth about me, / as clear as day, / Lord if i make it through tonight / then i will make my ammends and walk the straight path to the end of my days:". Other major highlights for me are "pale green things", "dilaudid", ""lion's teeth" and "love love love". "dilaudid" continues the abandon (and recklessness?) of its characters, almost daring "We won't pass this way again. / So kiss me with your mouth open. / Turn the tires toward the street. / And stay sweet. " "doing things our bodies weren't meant to". "up the wolves" looks for ghosts in closets confessing "there'll always be a few things...that you're going to find really difficult to forgive" but "there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home". "lion's teeth" aggressively owns up to the truth and confrontation ("in come the cops / they blow torch the doors. / I start wailing. / the lion roars./ there's no good way to end this.") knowing the outcome might not be good ("I am going to regret the day that I was born"). Violins punctuate the tension and ease while the combatants hold on. Dirty deeds go down for love on "love love love" as summed by the chorus "some things you do for money and some you do for love love love". "pale green things" notes how life goes on after the loss of a father remembering "got up before dawn / went down to the racetrack. / riding with the windows down / shortly after your first heart attack" noting "and that morning at the race track was one thing I remembered. / I turned it over in my mind / like a living chinese finger trap. / seaweed and indiana sawgrass ... pale green things". Easy to imagine this person just staring down at the sidewalk at the track remembering his father. "dance music" is upbeat, drowning out familial chaos. There's impending near-apocalyptic tragedy everywhere, from "magpie" ("shore up the crucifixes / above the archways and the doors. / the magpie will come at midday./ and you will go down on all fours.") to acceptance of such tragedies on "song for dennis brown" ("on the day that dennis brown's lung collapsed, spring rain was misting down on kingston" and "and when the birds come home in spring, / we will fill them full of buckshot. / and jets of contaminated blood / will cloud the rivers and the lakes.") because life & loss go hand-in-hand on "the sunset tree", quite aptly named. Most of the songs are brief and to the point, which benefits the songs' urgency and bluntness. I'm drawn to really strong songwriters, and Darnielle fits that description.