Bleed Out

523. Guys on Every Corner

Alex Russell Bleed Out , , , , , , ,

The saxophone is the star on “Guys on Every Corner,” which will have you looking over your shoulder.

Track: “Guys on Every Corner”
Album: Bleed Out (2022)

I grew up among folks who wanted to play music. Some of my best friends in middle and high school played upright bass, jazz piano, and various horns. I’ll never forget some of those shows after hours in karate dojos and nearly defunct clubs watching people who, largely, would not go on to make music professionally but were essentially superheroes to those of us with no talent for it. I wanted to write the words. I’ve always been more interested in lyrics than music. That said, the awe comes through just the same.

Matt Douglas has changed the Mountain Goats. The sound is “full” now, for lack of a better term, and you hear it on songs like “Guys on Every Corner,” which would not be the same without the horns. If this series has a goal, it’s to get you to go to a show. I saw Matt Douglas completely transform “Maize Stalk Drinking Blood” many years ago and it converted me from one of those guys who loves the Goats best when it’s just John Darnielle stomping and yelling. The joy now is in the spectrum: sometimes the solo stuff, sometimes the full orchestra.

“Guys on Every Corner” is most surprising in that it is so tight. It’s a song with a saxophone solo that’s three minutes long. In such limited space, Douglas still blows the doors off and takes over what is essentially an extended threat. “They look like nothing // they look like your neighbors” becomes ominous given the circumstances, but the horns really make you want to punch your fists into your pockets and try to get the hell out of there.

522. Bleed Out

Alex Russell Bleed Out , , , , , ,

Our doomed narrator in “Bleed Out” doesn’t have to imagine the end and goes out on their own terms.

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

Bleed Out, the album, is fairly high-octane as Mountain Goats albums go. The whole thing is “about” action movies, but I probably don’t need to tell you how heavy the quotes around “about” are in that statement. The theme albums about goth music, wrestling, and Christianity also are very broadly “about” those things, though the theme really does supply a lot of imagery on all of them. “There won’t be any wisdom from me // just a lake of blood for all the world to see” is the sort of thing you don’t hear elsewhere.

“Bleed Out,” the song, certainly has a lot of blood in it. Our hero (maybe we need some more heavy quotes, but let’s go with hero) describes their inevitable end over and over, including an absolution of the listener. It’s too late. You don’t even have to assume it’s too late, because “the smallest hole was several inches wide.” You just have to accept your fate. It’s time to bleed out.

There have been ten studio albums from the Mountain Goats since I started listening to them and I think Bleed Out is the best of them. The title track shows Darnielle (and Hughes, who is co-credited with lyrics for this one) and company haven’t lost a step: “And I will never lose hope // and I haven’t lost hope // I’m just realistic.” This wouldn’t be out of place on anything the Goats have ever released, but it’s especially powerful here as these characters start to look backwards and contemplate more than they look forwards and sweat. We won’t all die in a hail of gunfire, but we all imagine our version of this moment, right?