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Heretic Pride
2008 studio album by the Mountain Goats From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Heretic Pride is the eleventh studio album by the Mountain Goats, released in the UK on February 18, 2008, and in the US on February 19 by 4AD, their sixth album on the label. It is the first to feature the band's lineup of John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, and Jon Wurster.[1] The album was produced by Scott Solter and John Vanderslice.
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Notes
According to Pitchfork, the album takes its title from Aura Noir's song "Black Deluge Night" (found on their 2004 album The Merciless) which contains the couplet "Soaring demons now swarm the skies/ In awe and heretic pride".[2]
A three-page comic book press kit was created for this album, with John Darnielle giving a brief text description of each song and songwriter/artist Jeffrey Lewis providing the illustrations.[3] This art is not included in the album packaging, and was created only for promotional usage prior to album release.
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Reception
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Heretic Pride received mostly positive reviews, with website Metacritic projecting an aggregate score of 74/100.[15] The Guardian critic Maddy Costa praised the album as "13 absorbing songs, sparingly orchestrated to concentrate attention on the lyrics [...] that grows more enveloping with every listen.".[16] Pitchfork critic Zach Baron awarded the album a rating of 8.0/10, and notes that it marks a return to earlier Mountain Goats albums, both musically and lyrically, and praises the album for its balance, stating "For every furious declaration, there's a moment of uncertainty."[2]
On the negative side, Mojo awarded the album only 2/5, arguing that "[t]he polished arrangements of Heretic Pride do Darnielle's songwriting no favours".[17] Similarly, despite acknowledging that John Darnielle "is a monstrously talented guy," Slant Magazine criticises the album for going over old territory, arguing that Darnielle "has covered every last of these inches before," and that "[t]he lack of the sort of overarching theme that powered previous discography standouts Tallahassee and The Sunset Tree through their dull bits means that these moments rob the record of a lot of momentum and goodwill."[18]
For the most part, however, the record was considered a very strong one. Reviewers such as Jessica Gentile at Crawdaddy gave credit not only to Darnielle but to his growing group of collaborators: "The album’s vast effectiveness is due in no small part to a team of extraordinary musicians; Heretic Pride is the Goats' most collaborative effort to date. Contributions by longtime bassist Peter Hughes, keyboardist Franklin Bruno, and cellist Erik Friedlander, not to mention the additions of Superchunk drummer John Wurster and guitarist Annie “St. Vincent” Clark, provide a tight-knit, full-bodied sound, serving to strengthen the already strong words they belie."[19] Eric Sams focused more on Darnielle's unique songwriting prowess: "Even at his most abstract, his most obscure, his most manic, we always believe the words that John Darnielle is singing. This is the other half of the Mountain Goats’ singular mystique. No other human writing songs today channels so much ethos from his founding myths with such economic references. He wraps his words achingly tight around steely emotions and then punches us in the kidney with them until we believe them."[20]
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Track listing
All tracks are written by John Darnielle.
Personnel
- John Darnielle – vocals, guitar
- Franklin Bruno – piano, organ
- Annie Clark – guitar, backing vocals
- Erik Friedlander – arrangement, strings
- Peter Hughes – electric guitar, bass guitar
- Jon Wurster – drums, percussion
- Rachel Ware Zooi – backing vocals
- Sarah Arslanian – backing vocals
- John Vanderslice – synthesizer, production
- Scott Solter – additional percussion, production, recording, mixing
- Aaron Prellwitz – recording
- Timin Murray – assistant recording
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References
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