Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov |
For fans of the Mountain Goats worried that John Danielle is being distracted by a silly side project with the Extra Lens’ Undercard, have no fear. For all intents and purposes, this is a Mountain Goats record. Darnielle’s uber-literate, nasal delivery is in full effect. The difference here is his Extra Lens collaborator, Franklin Bruno, who adds washes of electric guitar to Darnielle’s mostly acoustic compositions.
Darnielle’s inventive and all-encompassing storytelling is the order of the day on Undercard. Throughout the album, he embodies a disenchanted boxer (‘Cruiserweights’), an ill-prepared filmmaker (‘Only Exisiting Footage’), and a man sleeping with his neighbour’s wife (‘How I Left the Ministry’). Lyrically, there are few who are on Darnielle’s level – his closest contemporary might be Okkervil River’s Will Sheff.
The first two-thirds of Undercard is solid, full of interesting, up-tempo thinkers. The album’s back third slows considerably, with ‘Tug on the Line’ and a cover of Randy Newman’s ‘In Germany Before the War.’ The songs appear back-to-back as the longest, slowest songs on the record, making for an odd choice in terms of pacing.
Throw this album on shuffle, and you’ll be hard-pressed to tell this apart from Darnielle’s other work. That’s not a complaint.
