The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck

Label: Merge

To tell you the truth, if John Darnielle put out record of radio static with the words "the Mountain Goats" on the cover, we'd dig it. We'd be confused by it, but we'd dig it. Darnielle is really one of the best working songwriters in America, any genre, and the trio he's fronting now (including Superchunk's Jon "follow me on Twitter" Wurster on drums) is probably our favorite version of the band. The songs on All Eternals Deck have snap -- "Estate Sale Sign" tears around corners while "Beautiful Gas Mask" paints a cool streak onto a pensive mid-tempo tune, with Darnielle all the while tossing off blistering couplets and finding new ways to fit incredible wordage into these tight pop songs without ever making them sound wordy. God he's good! Fast ones, slow ones, soft ones and scorchers -- yup, another Mountain Goats album that sounds as beautifully conflicted and confusing as life itself. Find the gimmick in the titles on this one and I'll buy you a coffee.