A few weeks ago, I mentioned The Mountain Goats were gearing up to release a new album. If I could easily see my streaming statistics, I could tell you that I have listened to the record about a hundred times. That is not to mention all the times I have dropped the stylus on sides C and D of the vinyl. I have no beef with sides A and B, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I wouldn’t say we are dating, but I do think we know each other pretty well.

It is necessary to remark that each of the Mountain Goats albums are box-tickers on release. But GETTING INTO KNIVES feels different. It could be the insulating and isolating experience of this pandemic, but it seems like any art produced in 2020 has a filter, like it is a more genuine article, something protesting loneliness. Like if a furniture store that hasn’t received any new couches for 6 months and then that first new one somehow feels extra comfortable.

In the first few weeks of the pandemic John Darnielle recorded an album called SONGS FOR PIERRE CHUVIN. It is a delightful return to the roots of John Darnielle’s recording career, when he would record himself on a tape-deck boombox with a tiny microphone. It is full of white noise, the sound of an aging cassette motor, and a man with a guitar. A modern analog may be a quiet voicemail recorded in a noisy car. Truly, though, I say to you that I needed a new full test, high octane, album. GETTING INTO KNIVES has the band together and the results are like anxiety relief medication brewed by Shakespearean witches.

Before the full album was released, they offered a few taster singles, As Many Candles as Possible, Get Famous, and Pictures of My Dress. I said that the musicality of those tunes reminded me of SCARY MONSTERS… by David Bowie. Now that I can listen to the full album, it sounds like more like a perfect Mountain Goats record.

I have been wanting to write this for weeks. I keep going back and forth on a weird deep dive into each song or the more general hucksterism of an exhausted carnival barker. For the most part each track feels like its own universe ripe for exploration, and I am not the right tour guide for the bass line of The Great Gold Sheep; so it is for you to explore. However, I do want to celebrate the musicianship of all involved.

While I am technically a drummer, I feel like comparing my abilities to Jon Wurster would be like comparing a home economics student to a Michelin Star Chef. Compared to my abilities, Wurster is like the wizard Shazam. Focusing on the Wurster’s drumming has made me a better percussionist, but I am not ready to guard the realms of man from the seven deadly sins.

All too often bass players are overlooked. That is, until the bass is missing. Peter Hughes doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to filling out empty spaces. You really have to listen for it, but, like sasquatch, when you hear it you will not likely forget it.

A moment ago, I mentioned empty spaces, there aren’t too many with the multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas. Over the last few records Douglas seems to add more and more woodwinds and this alchemy alters the atoms of the music in way that makes it both an amalgam and pure. Chemistry says this is impossible, but when it comes to art, magic defies science.

I am not sure how common this is, but John Darnielle is the first musician whose personality is very similar to mine, also we are relatively close in age. Because of this his songs speak to me in ways to don’t require too much translation. This isn’t to say that I am some sort of goat whisperer. There is still plenty of mystery, but since it is a common tongue, I am already that much closer to whatever version of transcendentalism a listener can glean from a song.

I wondered about the title song, Getting Into Knives. It is a curious title, fitting, but curious. This year has given me some time for introspection. There is unrest all over the place, everything is horrible. There is some light at the end of the tunnel, but we first must traverse the Bog of Eternal Stench. In movies we like to talk about coming of age films, where the protagonists go from child to adult. Getting Into Knives  is like that, except it is about coming to the second age of adulthood. The one where it is easier to see beauty in everyday items. There is still activism in my heart, but I can also appreciate the detail in a plastic dinosaur. You can have both.

I am not going to be so bold as to say that this is the best album you will hear from 2020. I have only listened to about five new records this year, and two of them are Mountain Goats albums. Frankly, if that is what you are looking for you would much better served reading literally any other article, or fall down a Bandcamp hole and find something that fits you better. What I will say is that, for my money, GETTING INTO KNIVES is a high point for me in this year.