The Mountain Goats are at their fullest and their best in the after-the-fact scene “Extraction Point.”

Track: “Extraction Point”
Album: Bleed Out (2022)

In the Apple Music liner notes for Bleed Out John Darnielle called “Extraction Point” a personal favorite and says “…what I really like about it is there’s something that just finished happening and you have to put together the details of what it was. And it looks like it was pretty gnarly, but the song is pretty, it’s triumphant.” Obviously, all of that is true. It would be pretty wild of me to say it isn’t. It’s hard to build on things when the man himself is so succinct. He’s doing my job for me.

But beyond the basics, “Extraction Point” is one of those songs that really shows the evolution of the Mountain Goats. The full band here is truly in sync. If you listen for the drums specifically they’re excellent, but if you don’t you’ll still appreciate the entire rhythm section. I’m always a fan of the horns, but sometimes they come across as additional and bonus rather than necessary. Neither is a bad thing, but you really feel the length between the versus here and you get the time to contemplate that the narrator would be feeling in that moment. It’s simplistic to call a song great but I feel like this one is “complete.” The lyrics wouldn’t be totally out of place on an earlier Goats song, but the tapestry and the fullness absolutely would be, which makes this stand out.