Jenny From Thebes

634. Ground Level

Alex Russell Jenny From Thebes , , , , , ,

In “Ground Level,” we see the nuts-and-bolts of casing the joint.

Track: “Ground Level”
Album: Jenny From Thebes

John Darnielle has said the lines in “Ground Level” about getting by on low sleep are a shout out to new parents with young children. My first is going to be born in the next few weeks, so I’m keeping that in my mind as I write about this album.

“Ground Level” finds Jenny slipping into the underworld proper. No other band would ever try lyrics as banal as “one quick walkaround will give you // all the relevant information” but that’s because they don’t have “I’m never going to break my neck // falling downstairs” to follow it up. It’s been a trend among modern Mountain Goats albums to get into these details of heists and break-ins, because these dramatic turns offer a lot of exciting references and language. Usually they’re representative. Here, nope, we’re actually doing something.

Jenny is making progress, here. We know what’s coming, if we look deep down.

633. Clean Slate

Alex Russell Jenny From Thebes , , , , , ,

Jenny starts her journey hopeful and reflective in “Clean Slate.”

Track: “Clean Slate”
Album: Jenny From Thebes

I am writing this on the day that the Mountain Goats announced Peter Hughes is no longer with the band and I am writing this at a time when Jenny From Thebes is the most recent release. I started this just under a decade ago and never realistically thought I’d finish it. It feels like time to finish it.

“Clean Slate” kicks off the narrative of Jenny From Thebes with Jenny, the most significant Mountain Goats character with a name, finding the crew of misfits and remembering her past. She describes one from Copiah, Mississippi, not far from where my dad died. It’s a jaunty song that explodes as it builds, as all great Mountain Goats openers do, but it really delivers on that mixture of miserable ideas and excited horns and drums. “This will be the last time that I do this,” Jenny says, but then, “I’m pretty sure,” she couches. It’s all done over this phoenix-fire of jaunty melody.

We enter Jenny From Thebes with hope. We know to be cautious about this hope, but we have it, all the same.