The Mountain Goats - 'All Hail West Texas'

By Priyanka Krishnamurthy

The Mountain GoatsAll Hail West Texas (reissue)Merge

Some things are meant to be on repeat.All Hail West Texas (2002) was the last album recorded on an old, fragile Panasonic boombox, the same boombox that created the Mountain Goats’ lo-fi feel. Newly remastered in 2013, the album includes seven never-released bonus tracks.Listening to John Darnielle's lyrics is like ripping your heart out and watching it beat in front of you, the rawest emotions you will ever experience.His alternative version of “Jenny” and additions of tracks like “Tape Travel is Lonely” and “Answering the Phone” provide more staples for the Mountain Goats, returning to common themes of blind infatuation, frivolous spending and existential crises.Darnielle tells multiple stories of seven people in the dry Texas heat, worshipping Satan, metal music, falling in and out of love and reconciling boredom through substance abuse.I thought a reissue would negatively impact me, reminding me of what I felt about love as a sad, lonely teenager. The emotions that boiled inside me when I listened to these songs for the first time are indescribable, but there's a sense of closure when you revisit the best and worst times of your past.All Hail John Darnielle.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii6kJaGiRaI