Beautiful Rat Sunset

This eight-song EP from 1994 represents what is now the “early” stage of the Mountain Goats’ ever-expanding career. Essentially the work of one man, John Darnielle, and whichever buddies he decided to include, the Mountain Goats began as a home-taping exercise straight to boombox that has since continued into the new millennium with properly produced albums and consistently intriguing songwriting. The primitive recording quality here matched by Darnielle’s reckless, enthusiastic strumming and hyper-excited vocal delivery make for fascinating listening. His song titles veer into mystical territory, but his lyrics are rarely that abstract, as they recount vivid details and honest, conflicting emotions. “Song for Cleomenes” serves as a history lesson that begins “73 years before the advent of the Christian era as Rome was taking over any land within reach, setting up proxy governments…” Well, there aren’t many folk songs this ambitious. Darnielle mostly zeroes in on the emotional core. “Sendero Luminoso Verdadero” includes a simple, catchy melody where the final admission, “I remember Lima, I remember the good life” sounds like a long-broken promise.