the extra lens

383. Dogs of Clinic 17

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

Whether you think “Dogs of Clinic 17” is about real dogs or not, it is undeniably a song about how far hope can take you.

Track: “Dogs of Clinic 17”
Album: Undercard (2010)

The good folks at the Mountain Goats Wiki excerpted some stage banter between Franklin Bruno and John Darnielle during a performance of “Dogs of Clinic 17” in New York in 2010. John Darnielle says he doesn’t know how to introduce it and then both members of the Extra Lens explicitly say it is actually about the dogs in the title. After some discussion about how that could be true, given the back-and-forth between a dog and a scientist about how many dogs you need for this experiment, John Darnielle says “Franklin, to that I would ask you, what is reality?” I mention all of this not to elucidate what is going on here, because I think you really have to take this one at face value, but to make a case for you to go see John Darnielle live whenever you can. What is reality, indeed.

Undercard closes with “Dogs of Clinic 17,” which we have to assume is really about a group of the five remaining dogs from a group of twenty. The language is more powerful individually than it is when you try to construct a narrative for this one. You really focus in on that lyric that led to the stage banter there and the somewhat chilling notion of a scientist responding to a dog that notices that three-fourths of them are gone by saying “five is plenty.” That said, the verses don’t necessarily connect the way they do on a lot of the rest of Undercard. I don’t think that’s a problem, especially because it allows for the powerful offramp of the last verse. It feels positive and rising, but the final words tell a true tale of what’s coming next.

382. Rockin’ Rockin’ Twilight of the Gods

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

“Rockin’ Rockin’ Twilight of the Gods” shows us one way to respond to a world as it falls apart.

Track: “Rockin’ Rockin’ Twilight of the Gods”
Album: Undercard (2010)

There’s a good video of “Rockin’ Rockin’ Twilight of the Gods” here, where John Darnielle played it as part of a cruise that Barenaked Ladies did called Ships and Dip. We lack the space to unpack that, but what a detail. It was originally a Mountain Goats song and was played a few times before becoming an Extra Lens song and appearing on Undercard decades later. There are no huge differences between the two versions, which is notable mostly because John Darnielle kept the lyric about the “Financial News Network,” which existed when he wrote the song but was a long-distant memory when it came out on Undercard in 2010. The Extra Lens version has a fuller sound, as with most of their music, and that may be a plus or a minus depending on the kind of thing you’re looking for.

Why “Rockin’ Rockin’ Twilight of the Gods?” I couldn’t tell you, but the naming convention shows up again in “Rockin’ Rockin’ Pet Store,” which is at least about a pet store. It’s an interesting song to hear in 2021, as the character hears increasingly dire financial news of the world but clings to the idea that their world is actually blossoming in unrealistic, magical ways. Given the other narrators in this world we can assume the “unrealistic” part, but what a headspace to vacation in for just a moment.

381. Tug on the Line

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

“Tug on the Line” is about a fishing trip where something truly unexpected happens, isn’t it?

Track: “Tug on the Line”
Album: Undercard (2010)

Many years ago, a friend of mine said that he mistook the lyrics of a totally different Mountain Goats song and thought it was about actual cannibals. At the time we laughed about it, but with some distance I begin to question if that was the right response. Who was I to say that wasn’t true? There is at least one Mountain Goats song about literal cannibals, not even as a metaphor, so who could say there aren’t more?

The problem, if there is one, is with jumping off from one point and then being unable to hear anything else. If you take figurative language literally or you read into details too far you start to hear things that aren’t there. “Tug on the Line” is a peaceful, quiet song that I think makes two pretty direct references to eldritch horror. A group of people go out on a boat for a nice day of fishing and find something “shapeless and probably nameless, as of yet.” True horror comes from something you can’t name, but also something you can’t even conceive. You can’t even picture it, it’s so far beyond your understanding.

But then again, is that what’s happening? I think so, but I’m also unable to get past it to see anything else. The second verse literally says “fish that looked like monsters” but I’m open to all possibilities. At first glance, this is a straightforward, if magical, story. But it’s also just as likely the story of how you carry around dark feelings from a day. I’ll never really be sure, and I think that’s part of it.

380. Programmed Cell Death

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

With a comparison to the inevitable death of all things, “Programmed Cell Death” ponders the act of pondering.

Track: “Programmed Cell Death”
Album: Undercard (2010)

Programmed Cell Death is a term for any genetic process that leads to a cell dying. It’s pretty much what it sounds like from the name. It’s a fitting name for the Extra Lens song “Programmed Cell Death,” especially when you view it as not the result of an accident. Cells create other cells and die as part of the natural division and growth of life. We, as combination of cells, go to the store and buy things and wonder about existence when we aren’t too distracted by our phones. Franklin Bruno called it “a sensitive one” during the only performance of it I could find a recording from, in 2010. It’s maybe even an understatement.

You can’t box in the Extra Glenns/Lens as a band. The strongest theme is infidelity, but also just a sense of introspection, sometimes within the former situation and sometimes not. John Darnielle sings “Programmed Cell Death” as high as it sounds like he can go, with his voice fully breaking on one line both in the studio and live versions. His narrator asks big questions, even for a song by Bruno and Darnielle, including “how much longer are we supposed to stay alive?” It’s all mixed with the mundane, but it has a lot more room to stretch out here than it usually does in a Mountain Goats song. There’s a lot to love about the imagery here, but the real joy of “Programmed Cell Death” is the juxtaposition between the biggest question possible to ask and the tinned fish right next to you as you ponder it.

379. Communicating Doors

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

Franklin Bruno’s “Communicating Doors” shows us a night in a hotel and what happens on nights you “don’t recall.”

Track: “Communicating Doors”
Album: Undercard (2010)

The Mountain Goats Wiki is not exhaustive and is sometimes wrong, which John Darnielle has commented on during live shows and podcast appearances. We live in a world that so consistently relies on online sources and the availability of all information that this seemingly obvious fact can be easy to forget. Just because something isn’t on a list online doesn’t mean that list is accurate, but “Communicating Doors” is the only original Extra Lens song that has no mentions of being played live. This does not mean it’s never happened, but it means no one wrote it down if it has.

Franklin Bruno wrote “Some Other Way,” “How I Left the Ministry,” and “Communicating Doors.” The other two, and “Only Existing Footage” which he wrote with John Darnielle, have all been played live. It makes one wonder what makes this one special. I don’t have a concrete answer and I think it may not necessarily be the right question, as the Extra Lens didn’t really tour that often, anyway. I mostly mention it because I’d love to hear this one live. The instruments are warmer here than they are elsewhere on Undercard and maybe that’s tough to do live. I don’t really know.

The song fits with the themes of the album if you assume this is a halting love affair. That’s how I’ve always read it, with the duo stay in adjoining rooms with an understanding that they will meet in one of them but want to keep the ruse alive that they might not. Mountain Goats songs are often about the end of love, but Extra Lens songs are about the situations that surround those emotions.

378. Cruiserweights

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

Similar to other songs about fighting for money but different in tone, “Cruiserweights” is a standout that will make you think.

Track: “Cruiserweights”
Album: Undercard (2010)

I love the storytelling in “Cruiserweights.” The title tells you this is a boxing story, but you probably already knew that. When you really get into it, though, this is a cousin to the wrestling story in “Blood Capsules.” It’s about the fight, sure, but it’s about the guy fighting as much as it is what happens in the ring. “Take a couple shots right to the liver // then remember what the food was like in prison // stick to the game plan // stall for time,” is among the best writing on any Mountain Goats, Extra Glenns, or Extra Lens song. I don’t know who this is about specifically, not like the very similar “Pinklon” which gives away the game in the title, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a story of someone who knows that if this doesn’t work, their next plan will be much more desperate.

There are a lot of connected stories in John Darnielle’s songwriting catalog, but this theme really is explored through all three of these songs. Boxing or wrestling are jobs, which it’s easy to forget given the spectacle. There’s no spectacle in this gym with a bucket of blood and a “PA system borrowed from the high school.” Someone is watching and someone cares, but no one has more on the line than the guy in the ring. That’s something you can understand when you see him get hurt, but I really love John Darnielle and Franklin Bruno asking you to consider what happens later. “Blood Capsules” is more explicit about the next steps, but both songs really walk you right to the edge to understand that getting punched is not the worst thing that might come next.

377. Adultery

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

In the directly named “Adultery,” you may be able to guess what two people get up to and then live with.

Track: “Adultery”
Album: Undercard (2010)

“Adultery” is barely a minute-and-a-half long. It’s an explosion and a strong choice to open Undercard as a result. You can make a case for a few others, but there are only two extremely direct, inarguable songs about infidelity on the second album that John Darnielle and Franklin Bruno put out together. Now known as the Extra Lens, each songwriter takes credit for specific songs on this one. “How I Left the Ministry” is Franklin Bruno’s and “Adultery” is John Darnielle’s. I wouldn’t blame anyone who couldn’t immediately tell the difference, but it is interesting to work backwards from that fact to see each take.

“How I Left the Ministry” is a little more thoughtful, with a perspective of one of the two cheating people wondering how they got into this mess. We can infer from the title something even beyond the lyrics, suggesting a person of the cloth is wrapped up in this literal and figurative car crash. “Adultery” is more to-the-point. This is about adultery, you see, and welcome to this album. The guitar is intense and gets some room to stretch in the outro, but this one is almost entirely about John Darnielle’s snarl. “And I’m standing on the same spot where your husband stood” is the only direct reference beyond the title, but it’s an especially bitter one. You can hear Darnielle spit a little with a few lines and this narrator is one of the angriest in the Glenns/Lens period. John Darnielle has written dozens of songs about broken marriages, but this may be the point that embodies it all the most. There’s intensity, mostly but not entirely negative intensity, and very little time to reflect.

351. Only Existing Footage

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

“Only Existing Footage” goes very deep on the problems of creating a film as a metaphor for whatever you need.

Track: “Only Existing Footage”
Album: Undercard (2010)

As far as I can tell, the only other version of “Only Existing Footage” you can find online is this nyctaper version. I highly recommend it, as does the band since they follow the song with some banter saying it’s the best version they’ve ever done. High praise!

Beyond that we have only the studio version, but it’s a beauty. When Franklin Bruno and John Darnielle play live as either The Extra Glenns or The Extra Lens, they often sing songs together or in a kind of a round. I prefer this one with just Darnielle’s vocals, but that’s not to say this is a Mountain Goats song. The distinction between the Extra Glenns/Lens and the Mountain Goats isn’t always a clear one, but songs like this show a little more of a “mood” than the contemporary Goats music did. I’m sure you can find examples that disprove this, but Bruno sometimes seems to add a sort of distant longing that is sometimes more fury or despair with the Goats.

On Tumblr many years ago John Darnielle said he started “Only Existing Footage” but Franklin Bruno wrote part of it as a song about making an album. This is the only song on Undercard where the two share writing credit, but I don’t want to make too much of that. If you didn’t know who wrote which song, you probably wouldn’t ace a quiz. They share sensibilities, which is what makes their work so fascinating. I love the extended metaphor of “Only Existing Footage” and the imagery, no matter what meaning you draw from it.

250. Ambivalent Landscape Z

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , ,

In the cornfields of Iowa, clues begin to mount but may not help for the narrator in “Ambivalent Landscape Z.”

Track: “Ambivalent Landscape Z”
Album: Undercard (2010)

John Darnielle wrote a novel called “Universal Harvester” that’s worth your time, but you’ve probably already read it if you’re reading something like this. The phrase showed up in “Ambivalent Landscape Z” nearly a decade earlier as a narrator spoke of the “cold gaze of the Universal Harvester.” The book has overshadowed the company, as far as Google searches go, but Universal Harvester was a company that made farming equipment in Iowa that was acquired by another company that makes farming equipment in Iowa. The company that acquired them said they weren’t going to change anything. I don’t know if that turned out to be true or not.

Both the novel and “Ambivalent Landscape Z” take place in the fields of Iowa. This is the “sequel,” I suppose, to “Malevolent Cityscape X” and “Malevolent Seascape Y,” though I’m not sure there’s enough of a line to draw through all three that it matters. In this song, one character tries to track another one and fails to do so, both emotionally and physically. “You threw your car keys away,” they note, “you left a bunch of dummy footprints on the clay.” This is someone who definitely does not want to be followed, but that’s not going to stop some people.

All of this happens, but then we have the chorus. “I’ll never see you again // but until then” is the kind of contradiction that a John Darnielle narrator loves. This person is piecing together a faked crime scene and losing faith that it’s one they can solve, even with the information that it’s not real. Who among us hasn’t felt that way, to say nothing of needing a fallout shelter to “fall out in.” The delivery is stellar, and it’s really a standout in the Extra Glenns/Lens catalog.

177. How I Left the Ministry

Alex Russell Undercard , , , , , , , ,

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb8qtfgNqWQ&index=16

A series of romantic gestures from two unlikely characters complicates a quick look at a preacher’s infidelity.

Track: “How I Left the Ministry”
Album: Undercard (2010)

Franklin Bruno, John Darnielle’s partner in the offshoot band The Extra Lens, wrote “How I Left the Ministry.” I was shocked to learn that, but it makes sense because of how savage the result is. The only difference between the two seems to be that John Darnielle implies most of his darker results and Franklin Bruno is comfortable with more explicit language, but even that is me reaching. The two are clearly kindred spirits and that’s what makes their side band work.

“How I Left the Ministry” opens with a set of explosive tones that could be mistaken for “triumphant” if not for the first verse. Immediately, our narrator tells us that they’re in a major car accident and they’re with their neighbor’s wife. Undercard opens with a screaming, roaring song called “Adultery,” so we’re definitely in familiar territory, but it’s unique because of the title. The song never mentions it, but “How I Left the Ministry” is a much more powerful title after you know what happens to our narrator.

At 102 seconds, “How I Left the Ministry” is over in a flash. It’s one car accident and several reflective lines and then it’s gone. That makes it all the more impressive how many details are crammed into 12 lines. The person in the passenger seat traces a heart on the driver’s leg and we feel empathy. The power of a song like this (and spiritual, younger cousin “Alibi”) is in the ability to twist our expectations. This is a religious figure in the community and someone’s wife, so in the absence of other details we aren’t expected to want them to make it to the Days Inn. It’s never that simple in a Mountain Goats song, no matter which name they’re using.