The Mountain Goats with their first album for 4AD finding John Darnielle (along with Nothing Painted Blue's Peter Hughes and Franklin Bruno and some Delgados) delivering a stunning set of songs dripping with melodies and brilliant lyrics. Tony Doogan and Flaming Lip Michael Ivens behind the desk. John Darnielle strips his music of the tape hiss that surrounded his previous work like a security blanket made of static, opting for a clean sound that emphasizes the album's sometimes stinging, sometimes sublimely beautiful words and melodies.
