Bleed Out

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Twenty records in, why not goof on concept and see what sticks? After recent forays into gloom (Dark in Here) and a return to his lo-fi roots (Songs for Pierre Chuvin), Mountain Goats' main man John Darnielle has taken inspiration from his COVID lockdown hobby: watching old action films, like Italy's poliziotteschi sub-genre of the '60s and '70s. The result? Making "songs with physical situations and palpable threats, something visceral for the tail end of lockdown," he has said. He goes all in from the starting gate. "Training Montage" opens with acoustic guitar and the singer describing just what the title promises: "Water dripping from the pipes down in the basement/ Bare feet on a concrete floor/ Notches on the wall of my solitary cell/ Sweat dripping out of every pore/ It feels like it takes forever/ It's maybe five minutes onscreen/ But the horns will swell, and the strings will sound/ When that flipped quarter hits ground." And then—"I'm doing this for revenge!" he bellows, and the whole thing kicks in, as triumphant as, yes, any training montage from an underdog movie. Producer Alicia Bognanno of the band Bully brings an exciting and unpredictable momentum to the proceedings, adding a wild "China Girl"-style guitar to "Mark on You"—so wild it almost seems to belong to a different song, but so intriguing you sit up and pay attention. "Guys on Every Corner" plays around with a funky backbeat and wailing sax, while the needle-pushing drum beat of "Extraction Point" never lets up and moody, moonlight-on-the-pier sax blows low and slow. Darnielle has said of "Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome" that, in recent years, he's shied away from fist-pumping anthems; "But here I figured, you know, no point just wading around in blood if I'm already in knee-deep." The guitar positively shreds and the bass prowls, while Darnielle builds a house of cards: "Floor the pedal at the green light/ Watch the traffic all drift right/ Barrel forward unimpeded/ Switch lanes as needed … In a world of heavy footprints/ Be untraceable." The chorus is pop-punk irresistible. Giddy "First Blood" highlights Darnielle's voice—so sharp and distinctive, but sounding as if he's about to tell a joke (he's always more of a character actor than an indie-rock leading man). He also sounds positively joyous singing, "Someday I will see you on your knees/ I'm going to make you suffer!" on "Make You Suffer." There are self-explanatory titles like "Hostages" (Springsteen-epic) and "Need More Bandages" (a post-punk tension wire). And the closer, "Bleed Out," is a seven-minute mid-tempo ballad that threatens to stick in your head for days, its aw-shucks hopelessness driving you crazy: "I'm gonna dive right in/ I can't swim"; "I will go down punching/ But I will go down/ Any my cornerman won't bring me back around." And fade to black. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz