After Get Lonely, the Mountain Goats return like a bomb exploding in “Sax Rohmer #1.”

Track: “Sax Rohmer #1”
Album: Heretic Pride (2008)

Most of the “periods” of the Mountain Goats are imagined. There is an undeniable shift when the band moved away from the home recordings into larger studio sound, but other than that, if you think there is a “change” it’s largely one you’ve decided exists. I’ve talked about it a lot because it really has a huge impact on how you view the band’s music. The way this usually manifests, in my experience, is people set a period where it becomes “new stuff” and then they have feelings about the “new stuff.” Surely this is not an experience unique to the Mountain Goats, but I think it’s an interesting one given the subject matter. John Darnielle has been who he is from the very first tape, though sure, there’s more saxophone now that he’s not one guy recording in a bedroom with his mom interrupting takes.

The first album I heard new was Heretic Pride. I heard a few songs at my first live show in 2007 and I bought the album the day it came out. “Sax Rohmer #1” opens the album and I think you’d have an extremely hard time finding even those hardened old folks who have thoughts about “new stuff” who wouldn’t feel the hair on their arm rise over that final chorus. It’s a remarkable song, polished and full and explosive even with lines like “every moment leads towards its own sad end.”

This song was my first chance to act jaded. It’s such a huge pivot from Get Lonely, at least in energy if not in other ways, but it’s excellent. Even when something surprises you from John Darnielle, it’s worth looking inward first.