“Four New Trees” goes one by one through, well, four trees, but doesn’t tell us why.

Track: “Four New Trees”
Album: Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg (1995)

“Four New Trees” is part of the half of Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg that exists only in this recording. Technically, it also exists as a pitch-corrected version which you can, and should, hear here. John Darnielle has said that if you’re going to listen to this album, you should try to find a way to listen to it as it would have eventually been released. That second version is, presumably, what that would sound like. The vocals are better, and definitely more like the John Darnielle you know, but in general it sounds more like an “advanced” version of the same thing. Is that solely because most fans have heard the higher vocals or because the deeper version sounds more like an adult? I can’t say.

“Four New Trees” feels, lyrically, like an old, old song. There is a tendency with unreleased or rare material to elevate it just because of the rarity. You want to, at some level, have your favorite song be something twenty people have heard. Let everyone else love the first track on the most popular album. Those people don’t get it, you tell yourself. That tendency is one that Goths pushes back on consistently as an album, which could open up an argument we don’t have the space to get into. I don’t think “Four New Trees” is one of the hundred best Mountain Goats songs or anything, but I think it’s fascinating in the way the best early songs are when you spend time with them. What do these trees represent? What do we make of the word choice, both gendering the evil tree and the repetition, in general? It’s tempting to guess, but I think it’s mysterious on purpose.