basing your musical style on the quality of intensity is an intimidating thing, but it's exactly what john darnielle (the mountain goats) has done. I'm not an old or die-hard fan of TMG, having only really listened to them after the latest album, the life of the world to come, came out, and TMG is definitely a band that attracts die-hard fans. but because of john's approach to songwriting, it's not necessary to know every single song in their catalog. intensity, when it's done right, is instantaneous. it also makes for really fucking good live shows, particularly when the audience consists of about sixty people. halfway through the show, which was a benefit for breast cancer research held in a theater, john asked us to come down into the stage area. we sat among the sets built for the current play; I sat on a linoleum floor and leaned up against a prop kitchen cabinet, listening to songs from the sunset tree and the new album and other oddities, including an ace of base cover. we all looked up at john as if we were at storytime in second grade.
I listened to the new album when I wasn't feeling all too good last fall, and quickly caught on to what the music was selling: total authenticity. I'm not saying that beyond being genuine it's not good songwriting, but I feel like the song structures are pretty simple and that some of the songs sound the same. no one cares about that; what john is doing is hitting that intimate songwriter paradigm right on the head, really doing it right. it's what conor oberst, in the sort of hyperbolic mythology that I've read on him (had his first band at age thirteen, or in the womb, or something) is also going for; but there's no comparison between these two. both are speaking in the current idiom, and connecting on a level that's culturally of-the-moment, but somehow, john is avoiding the tiresome slavishness to trends and posturing. what you see replacing this is an overwhelming store of empathy. the strongest feeling I came away from the new album with was that darnielle was possibly one of the most decent human beings I had ever heard sing pop music.
I would be terrified to give as much as darnielle does in his live shows and albums, and watching him was a little bit terrifying. "thanks for requesting that, it really took me somewhere else," he said after one song, which had indeed seemed to pull him out of the room, playing with his eyes squinched shut and strumming by throwing his wrist violently downward. my fear of giving this much would be that same old fear of doing anything genuine: what if the other party isn't into it? what if they think you're just an idiot, that your most intense thoughts and moments are meaningless? does john darnielle ever get insecure about what people think of his embarrassingly honest songs? or is it just that quality of embarrassing honesty that makes them truly exceptional?
this slippery quality of "honesty" seems to be something I only recognize when it's present; and it does seem ridiculous to say that other songwriters are not "honest." break it down, and the term seems meaningless. and yet I feel like most of the artists I'm drawn to have some kind of preoccupation with their own morality, and that this awareness is included in their art; and that's just how I like my books and films and music. oftentimes there's some kind of narrative involved, of being young and selfish and then undergoing some kind of transformative moment and from there on out writing from the position of one who is focused on repenting. I don't really know if this particular narrative is present in TMG's work, since I haven't heard the earlier stuff; but I wouldn't be surprised if his songs have always oozed this sublime sense of empathy. this would seem to refute the idea that moral awareness is something you have to learn over a lifetime.
on the flipside of this, also, are bands like radiohead, whose works (I'm thinking of ok computer) are also extremely emotionally honest, but in a way that is completely self-absorbed. I wouldn't say that I come away from their shows hating other people, but it is interesting to note the difference in aesthetic. TMG aren't about elaborate song structures or even beautiful melodies (although they have those), whereas radiohead are - "paranoid android" and "pyramid song" are some complex, melody-driven tunes, with shifting beat patterns and soaring (or plunging) melodies. which is to say that, if radiohead sang about the things they did with TMG's musical style, the whole thing would be absurd. TMG did release get lonely, which has some really introspective tunes, but for me they're not half as convincing as something like "this year." "paranoid android" is about anti-empathy, and I don't think TMG could write an anti-empathetic song if they tried. all the songs on the sunset tree, an album about darnielle's abusive stepfather, are about emotional pain, but display a constant empathy for everyone involved, including darnielle himself. there are a few moments where the songs seem to swoop into some interior space ("lion's teeth" comes to mind), but it's not the total consfusion and lostness that thom yorke constantly seems to be mired in. we know who the players are, who's doing the abusing and who's clearly being abused, whereas in radiohead all that is unclear. the singer's identity is purposely indeterminate ("I'm not here, this isn't happening") and the situation or narrative is never concrete. which is why it's so fascinating to hear TMG cover "no surprises" - this song, highly ironic, turns into something far more innocent when darnielle sings it, and thus even more frightening.
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