We Shall All Be Healed

We Shall All Be Healed is the eighth studio album by The Mountain Goats. The album focuses on semi-fictional accounts of band leader John Darnielle's years as a teenager, particularly his friends' and acquaintances' experiences in California and in Portland, Oregon, as methamphetamine addicts. As The Mountain Goats' official website puts it: "All of the songs on We Shall All Be Healed are based on people John used to know. Most of them are probably dead or in jail by now." Like Tallahassee, but unlike the rest of Darnielle's repertoire up to its release, We Shall All Be Healed was recorded with a full band in a recording studio, and produced by John Vanderslice, as opposed to The Mountain Goats' previous practice of recording at home on a boom box with, at most, one or two backup vocalists or a bassist. "Palmcorder Yajna" (the primary single), when played in concert, is often played with the backing of members of one or more of the opening acts on tour with The Mountain Goats. The song "Cotton" was featured in an episode of the television series Weeds.

We Shall All Be Healed
Studio album by the Mountain Goats
Released	February 3, 2004
Studio	Bear Creek, Woodinville, Washington
Genre	Folk rock
Length	44:45
Label	4AD
Producer	John Vanderslice Scott Solter
The Mountain Goats chronology
Tallahassee (2002) We Shall All Be Healed (2004) The Sunset Tree (2005)

One of the provisional titles for the album was New Age Music Will Save Your Wretched Soul.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Alternative Press	4/5[4]
Blender	[5]
Mojo	[6]
Pitchfork	6.9/10[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Spin	8/10[10]
Uncut	[11]
The Village Voice	A[12]

We Shall All Be Healed was generally liked by critics, but divisive in some circles regarding the different direction taken in the album's creation, with a new production style and a band playing alongside the typically solo John Darnielle.^[7] Other critics, however, felt that the change only added to the power of John Darnielle's voice, creating a 'brighter' sound and adding to the emotionality of Darnielle's lyricism.^[3]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Slow West Vultures"	2:41
2.	"Palmcorder Yajna"	4:08
3.	"Linda Blair Was Born Innocent"	2:46
4.	"Letter from Belgium"	3:11
5.	"The Young Thousands"	4:34
6.	"Your Belgian Things"	3:49
7.	"Mole"	4:32
8.	"Home Again Garden Grove"	3:15
9.	"All Up the Seething Coast"	3:45
10.	"Quito"	2:03
11.	"Cotton"	3:25
12.	"Against Pollution"	3:43
13.	"Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph Of"	2:52
Total length:		44:45

All tracks are written by John Darnielle.

Personnel

• John Darnielle – vocals, guitar
• John Vanderslice – production
• Franklin Bruno – piano
• Peter Hughes – bass
• Nora Danielson – violin
• Christopher McGuire – drums