We see behind the curtain to find someone preparing to take a small step in “Going Invisible.”

Track: “Going Invisible”
Album: Unreleased (posted as a demo by John Darnielle online in 2008)

Just under three years ago I wrote about “Going Invisible 2,” the “sequel” song to “Going Invisible,” which you probably could work out yourself based on the titles. The second one was part of In League with Dragons, an album that has aged very well in my estimation and is one of the best of the “modern” era. I initially called the second song an escalation from the first, with grander threats to burn everything down and booming instrumentation as compared to the quiet guitar and the almost “despondent” vocals. Not to take issue with myself, but I wonder upon listening to the first one if I still agree with that, exactly.

“Going Invisible,” the first one, was an unreleased track from Get Lonely that John Darnielle said was “a personal favorite.” As we reach the end of the discussion of non-album tracks (we have about 40 to go, if you’re counting) I have to keep going back to this idea of album construction and what it means to compare the songs that “made it” with those that didn’t. In this case, we know why: John Darnielle says the studio version they recorded wasn’t quite right. Get Lonely is, arguably, the most delicate Mountain Goats album, so you can understand that approach.

Today I would pick a different word than “despondent.” Certainly someone could find a better word, but this is someone who is more afraid — they are “fairly nearly ready” to go outside — than angry. Rage is an easier emotion to access than fear and this person is showing us the preparation it takes even to go out into a world that you’re still certain will not accept you, and not only that, but why would they, if they knew what was inside?