The Mountain Goats

John Darnielle is one of the most imaginative lyricists of his generation. Since he sat down cross-legged with an acoustic guitar in front of a boom box and pressed record for the first time – more than a decade ago – skewed characters, vibrant images and perfectly-framed narratives have flowed in the hundreds.

“The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle has been one of the best songwriters of the ‘00s: - Rolling Stone

“America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist” -The New Yorker

“Mountain Goats auteur John Darnielle continues to write songs that could inspire a season’s worth of TV-movie melodramas…the results can be extraordinary. Get the man an orchestra, now.” -Entertainment Weekly

Named #82 out of 100 in Paste Magazine’s list of the 100 best living songwriters “They’re eccentric gems he uses to work out his lyrical muscles – concise tunes with matter-of-fact lines that tell simple but captivating stories, steadfastly proclaimed in his geek who-lived-to-tell wail.” -Paste Magazine

The Mountain Goats released their latest album ‘The Life of the World to Come’ in 2009, recorded in three studios across three states it features string arrangements by Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), who has also worked in a similar capacity with the varied likes of Arcade Fire, Fucked Up and the Pet Shop Boys. The Life of the World to Come is their sixth album for 4AD, and is less a profession of religious faith than an immersion in Biblical poetry and imagery. The songs take their cue from verses that have either informed or inspired them.