Emissaries from Neighboring Lands

WHEN I SAW THE MOUNTAIN GOATS in LA earlier this summer, they played a song I fully assumed was new. It fit in with the other new songs he played, perhaps because he sang with Get Lonely's heartbreaking hush, but also because it shared lyrical similarities to songs like "Woke Up New." Now that I've been afforded another (and another) listen, it can be said that this sounds like The Sunset Tree as well, and We Shall All Be Healed. Really, it's from neither of the three - "Soft Targets" is the Mountain Goat's contribution to a split 7" with John Darnielle from 2003 - but the connections are clear. The story of a failing relationship, a breaking down (one point Get Lonely), "It's you and it's me and the baby makes three/ Yeah but we've got our love to carry us through" sings Darnielle between verses about crying. This shared despairing is what reminds me of We Shall All Be Healed, the helpless "us" he refers to; and it's the last three lines, where resolution is just-hinted-at, that recall the Sunset Tree: "When I hunt down the vampire who did this to us/ I will rip out his heart with my hands/ I will rip out his heart with my hands."

Combined the effect is overpoweringly sad, in a more Get Lonely fashion, with even the title packing a punch (soft target is a military term referring to an unarmored or otherwise unprotected object to be destroyed. - ouch). Don't listen to it thirteen consecutive times as I did while writing this - you'll be numb. But give it a listen, see that I'm not crazy.

The Mountain Goats - Soft Targets [mp3]

You can't buy this release anymore, but you can visit the Mountain Goats online.

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I'm enjoying the Yeah Yeah Yeah's iTunes Session EP [here], it's very Sunday morning & a cup of coffee. Their Sonic Youth cover sounds like that Pavement songs that goes "relationships, hey hey hey," yeah?

Also, get the Mountain Goats' Amoeba in-store session at *sixeyes.