Events

[INDIE] It took me a moment to understand the connection between The Mountain Goats, the folky indie rock band from North Carolina, and goths. Goths as in outsiders—teased out black hair having, black clothes wearing, overzealous fans of Joy Division and The Cure. The reason we’re here contemplating this is because the Mountain Goats have titled their 16th album, Goths. Upon closer inspection, the album follows the singer of a goth band in 1980s California. Aside from the melodramatic and dark opening track, not much else on the album can be considered goth in and of itself, but where the band’s primary songwriter, frontman John Darnielle really hones in on the theme is in his lyrics, which explore—in his usual folksy, humorous, and clever way—death and its driving force. Though inspired by Darnielle’s and his band’s adolescent love of bands like Joy Division and Bauhaus, there’s no guitar on the album at all, and in fact comes much closer to Hall & Oates than Siouxsie and the Banshees—perhaps in a way that perpetuates Darnielle’s affinity for clashing tones in his music. Of course, this soft rock, guitarless approach—which works perfectly on this record—isn’t characteristic of most of The Mountain Goats music, which they’ve been making since 1991. At their live show, audiences can expect a pretty varied selection of the band’s favorites spanning mostly the previous 15 years of their existence. Catch The Mountain Goats live at Babeville’s Asbury Hall on Friday, April 20 with support from Dead Rider.