One gets the sense that John Darnielle would completely lose it if he couldn’t write songs. Seriously, is there anyone on the current musical landscape who seems to get more out of unloading his fertile imagination than the prolific Mountain Goats ringleader?
Whether it’s recording lo-fi missives via his boom box or crafting studio offerings distributed by the more conventional means of indie labels, the guy just can’t help but express himself.
The Mountain Goats have dropped 14 quasi-official albums since 1994, the most recent of which, last year’s Transcendental Youth, is yet another Folk-inflected Indie Rock outing in which Darnielle’s hyper-literate words take center stage. Sure, the songs are often dressed up with horns, piano, strings, churning guitars and rubbery bass lines, but it’s Darnielle’s evocative lyrics and modest, high-whine vocals that again cut the deepest.
Curiously, the Goats’ latest tour is a stripped-down affair featuring just Darnielle and longtime bassist Peter Hughes.
Mountain Goats play with The Baptist Generals 9 p.m. Friday at the Taft Theatre. $18; $20 day-of. tafttheatre.org.
