With the passing of the Super Bowl another NFL season comes to a close. I now enter a time where I am excited to have all that time back when I would be watching football, and can instead read and listen to music. It takes about six weeks for me to be jonesing for some football again, but for now, I’m glad to have a few quiet Sundays.
Disc 1711 is…Jenny from Thebes
Artist: The Mountain Goats
Year of Release: 2023
What’s up with the Cover? Ode to a Grecian Disc. Here we have a woman (presumably Jenny, from Thebes) leading a hoplite (to be named later) toward some adventure.
As ancient Greek city states go, Thebes is pretty cool. It’s no Athens, obviously, but pretty cool all the same.
How I Came To Know It: I’m an avowed Mountain Goats fan, so this was just me buying the latest record when it came out.
How It Stacks Up: I have 13 Mountain Goats albums (I’m kind of a fan). The ratings jump around because as I add more, they need to slot in. Of the 13 I have, “Jenny From Thebes” comes in at #10. Previously, “Dark in Here” was #10, but it has been bumped. Change is inevitable.
Rating: 3 stars
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats is a prolific writer, prone to taking a theme and running with it. His folk tinged pop will always make you think, but you won’t always know exactly what is going on.
That was the case for me and “Jenny from Thebes” which, according to the internet, is a sequel to the Mountain Goats’ 2002 record, “All Hail West Texas”. The problem? I don’t care for that record, and don’t own it, making it a certainty that I would not know what was going on. Some sort of hard scrabble crime drama, likely featuring some murder here and there and after that…it loses me.
This is not a problem, though, because the Mountain Goats write such delightful melodies, and Darnielle’s phrasing makes everything compelling and dramatic. I knew something transformative and important was happening to the characters, and I didn’t know much else for sure, but the songs were great all the same.
I should note that this is true even with short teasers for every song that aimed to further explain (example: Song: “Only One Way”. Teaser: “They consider one another in the often harsh light of how the world is.”). If not knowing exactly how this teaser applies – even after listening to the song – is going to bother you, then the Mountain Goats may not be for you.
The album has a restless energy, with Darnielle squeezing a lot of words into each bar. You can hear it all crystal clear, however, with Darnielle delivering it all with the precision of a hip hop master, minus the hip hop.
Imagery, there is a lot to pick from, but in honour of the recently concluded Super Bowl, I’ll go with this football related bit from “Same as Cash”:
“Striking a bargain
with the imp in your brain
Prepared to take another knock for the short gain
But you can ask any veteran running back
Eventually your joints complain.”
True in football and as a metaphor, true for life as well.
There are times when the Mountain Goats can get a little jazzy, which is not my favourite side of them, and there are other times when they employ the sounds of six or seven instruments when four would do, but it is hard to fault them. They cram a lot of ideas – musical and lyrical – into every song, and there is bound to be some spillage when you load the plate that full.
In terms of topics, you got me. There are floor level rentals, motorcycles, and at one point a body disposed of in a water tower. Which is, you know, gross, but makes for a good image.
Who is Jenny from Thebes, and how does she relate to West Texas? I’m afraid I don’t know, or as Darnielle sings on “Jenny III”:
“Nobody will ever
know for certain
The names of all the secrets she held back behind the curtain”
Does it bothers me that there are hard core Mountain Goats fans out there in on these and many other secrets, while I listen in the dark? Sure, maybe a little, but it didn’t bother me enough to wreck the music, which is wonderful, creative, and thoughtfully constructed.
Best tracks: Clean Slate, Cleaning Crew, Same as Cash, Water Tower, Jenny III
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