Tallahassee, released in 2002, was the Mountain Goats’ seventh studio album and their first to incorporate a full band, with the introduction of a percussion section and other instruments. The album’s arc follows the relationship of “the Alpha Couple”, two characters commonly featured in John Darnielle’s music who are constantly on the verge of divorce, after moving to Tallahassee, Florida (1). Tallahassee’s themes of addiction, poverty, and domestic violence as well as the strong presence of its setting make the album feel like a contemporary southern gothic, drawing on current symbols of poverty and decay (3). The album’s lyricism also makes references to traditional southern gothic symbols, as in its third track, which refers to graveyard erosion in Louisiana (4):
I am not gonna lose you
We are gonna stay married
In this house like a Louisiana graveyard
Where nothing stays buried
- "Southwood Plantation Road"
While a contemporary Pitchfork review criticized its underuse of its full band (2), I found that I didn’t mind the simple arrangements of most of the songs. Songs that did use the full band, though, such as “Oceanographer’s Choice,” were standouts among the others.
(And the necessary opinion of breakout “No Children”: It’s very good, if overplayed. It is very dramatic, but what am I here for if not drama?)
FAVORITE TRACKS: “Southwood Plantation Road”; “Game Shows Touch Our Lives”; “The House That Dripped Blood”; “Oceanographer's Choice”; “Alpha Rat’s Nest”
TRACKS I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH: “Peacocks”, which felt too indistinct from “Idylls of the King”
OVERALL OPINION: Pretty good album; No skips, and some songs I’d rank among my favorites in the Mountain Goats’ discography. A classic album out of the band’s discography as well, Tallahassee gets an A.
References
(1) Wikipedia. (n.d.). "Tallahassee (album)". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallahassee_(album)