’80s action soundtrack meets indie-rock

Keeping their momentum going, The Mountain Goats incredibly released their twenty-first album titled, Bleed Out. The album takes the feelings from an ’80s action movie soundtrack and embarks on a journey to create a new modern soundscape.

Singer-songwriter John Darnielle founded The Mountain Goats in the early nineties, and for a long while was the solo member of the group. Though through the years the group has seen its fair share of changes, the current lineup lists Darnielle, Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster and Matt Douglas. Since its conception, the band has been hard at work creating and releasing albums. When going through their discography, it almost seems like the group has released an album every year, with the first release, Zopilote Machine debuting in 1994. Bleed Out comes in as the band’s twenty-first album, following behind their 2021 release Dark In Here.

Hitting the deck running, “Training Montage” starts with a punch and is the musical equivalent of an ’80s montage. Closing your eyes, scenes of the main character picking themself up and restarting themself play out with the song as the soundtrack. The track plays like an Americana acoustic song, reminiscent of Springsteen. Full and vibrant acoustic guitar upliftingly charges on with a persistent percussive background. In the end, the track does take a surprising twist and somewhat goes off the rails with a dizzying electric guitar solo.

Another highlight of the album is “Mark on You.” When chatting with Apple Music frontman Darnielle states this or “Training Montage” was the first track written for this album. A catchy lead guitar lures the ears, setting the mood for the rest of the track. The story within the lyrics paints a picture of someone either leaving an emotional or literal mark of revenge on another. The true meaning resides within the listener, take a listen and decide for yourself.

“Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome” slams in like a fast-paced punk song that tapes out as the verse comes in. Though don’t let that fool you, the hooks pick right back up with a head-shaking punk/alternative mixture. The song sings of a fast, risky lifestyle, being the indie rock version of “get money, die young.” All in all the song is upbeat and fun, even if it’s not your type of song you can’t help but move your feet.

The title track “Bleed Out” closes out the record. It is a very interesting view of someone figuratively “bleeding out,” but not exactly in a bad way. The tone is happy and almost free, with the idea of bleeding out and leaving a mark behind. When put into perspective, this concept seems to hit home in any creative individual. After harboring emotions, it all at some point bleeds out into different forms of art.

On Bleed Out, The Mountain Goats brings together an array of bustling percussion and catchy guitar licks, finding roots within classic ’80s soundtracks.