hex of infinite binding

432. Almost Every Door

Alex Russell Hex of Infinite Binding EP , , , , , ,

Through hushed tones and mournful horns, “Almost Every Door” has some bad news for you.

Track: “Almost Every Door”
Album: Hex of Infinite Binding EP (2018)

The Mountain Goats recorded “Almost Every Door” in Chicago in 2018 during a three-night set at the Old Town School of Folk Music. John Darnielle recorded an episode of the podcast I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats live later that week, also in Chicago. I saw the first night of the set and went to the live recording of the podcast. In looking at set lists from those shows, John Darnielle played some very heavy stuff during the solo sets each night and I remember that recording being fairly intense, as it was about “Steal Smoked Fish.” Does it ultimately matter? Maybe not, but when you listen to “Almost Every Door,” it may help to picture those days and that headspace.

The thing that always stands out to me is the delivery. The references to exits and hopes are difficult to listen to, but it’s all even more difficult because Darnielle sounds almost defeated. It’s not unheard of for a song in high, quiet tones to sound this way, but it’s really notable here. “Almost every door’s an exit // just not this one” could sound many ways, but here it sounds like someone is sadly telling someone else that they’ve looked and tried and must confirm, reluctantly, the facts. The horns are powerful here, as well, and you really appreciate Matt Douglas on this one.

431. Song for Ted Sallis

Alex Russell Hex of Infinite Binding EP , , , , , ,

The story of how Man-Thing became Man-Thing, “Song for Ted Sallis” has much more than that for you.

Track: “Song for Ted Sallis”
Album: Hex of Infinite Binding EP (2018)

Ted Sallis is Man-Thing, a Marvel comic book character who is a monster made of plant material that no longer has much of his original humanity. It’s complicated, as it always is, but “Song for Ted Sallis” tells the story of Man-Thing through some very John Darnielle language. “Whether or not it was always going to be this way // it only mattered yesterday” is an all-time sentiment, here referencing the finality of literal transformation but elsewhere a perfect sentiment for a way to move forward in life. “No skin like the skin you woke up in” is an equally powerful refrain for similar reasons.

You can hear this one live, which is true of no other song on Hex of Infinite Binding as far as I know. That show in 2020 is one of the great live shows in Mountain Goats history and worthy of your time even beyond that performance. The live version of “Song for Ted Sallis” is similar to the studio one, though as a solo show that performance is missing the saxophone that really makes it go. I think that alone makes the studio one superior, but why not try both? The overall vibe on the studio version really does reward additional listening, which seems supported by the fact that as of this writing, “Song for Ted Sallis” has as many listens as the other three songs on the EP combined. Maybe that’s because it’s first, but I think it’s because it really calls to you to come back to it.

430. Tucson Fog

Alex Russell Hex of Infinite Binding EP , , , , , ,

A familiar narrator fails to comfort their fellow man in “Tucson Fog.”

Track: “Tucson Fog”
Album: Hex of Infinite Binding EP (2018)

When he released Hex of Infinite Binding as an EP in 2018, John Darnielle said on Bandcamp that he used to release a lot of these and that he planned on doing it again. He did release a few, but nothing like the volume from his older days. That’s not a bad thing, and in fact the period directly following these EPs led to even more full-length albums than anyone could have anticipated. The result has been a ton of music from the Mountain Goats, just not in these short, one-off blasts.

“Tucson Fog” closes the EP on a dark note. Darnielle adds on the liner notes that he recorded it himself in his bedroom in December and that “things can get a little dark in December.” It’s especially dark considering the time that followed it, as it sets up a world where a speaker is locked in their house and hears only from “distant outposts.” This is too far in advance of the lockdowns and the quarantines to draw too much of a connection, but especially placing it in time really makes that stand out.

The song stands as a counterpoint to hope, but in a different way than much of the Get Lonely songs from a similar point of view offer a counterpoint. The narrator still wanders their house and speaks vaguely of dark rituals that leave a stench, but mostly they try to discover what their normal life is trying to tell them. To me this speaks of much older narrators who boiled water or made breakfast and tried to figure out why that moment was speaking to them and what they should draw from it.

256. Hospital Reaction Shot

Alex Russell Hex of Infinite Binding EP , , , , , ,

The death of Judy Garland and what comes after is one snapshot in “Hospital Reaction Shot.”

Track: “Hospital Reaction Shot”
Album: Hex of Infinite Binding EP (2018)

There are several Mountain Goats songs about Judy Garland, often more directly so than songs about other figures. Without context you might not be able to pick this one out, but John Darnielle released album notes that describe “Hospital Reaction Shot” as “drawn from a picture of Mickey Deans holding a press conference to inform the world of the death of Judy Garland, to whom he had been married for three months.”

Hex of Infinite Binding is one of a handful of EPs released in the last few years, at the time of this writing. Most of the albums have accompanying singles, but now the band is also releasing a relative flood of one-off EPs. I don’t know if this is a common sentiment among fans, but I never seem to digest these EPs as fully as the albums. I haven’t spent as much time with Hex of Infinite Binding as I have with the other recent material, but “Hospital Reaction Shot” feels especially distant.

Despite the traditional subject matter, it’s really not a traditional Mountain Goats song. There’s a brief instrumental bridge, which is just about unheard of in a Mountain Goats song. John Darnielle’s vocal delivery is deliberately thin, with a distant effect as though he’s Mickey Deans himself, overcome in the moment and not sure how to tell the world. I can’t find the specific photo the song references, but I don’t think you need to see it in place of that delivery. In other songs we hear about the terrible influences and the struggle Judy Garland faced, but in the reaction shot, we just need to consider the moment it all goes away.