Photo of a two-year-old smoking by Michael Rougier, published in LIFE Magazine, February 1959
In addition to releasing the excellent Heretic Pride album last year, the Mountain Goats put out two fairly good vinyl-only releases. You know, for the fans. One of these, Black Pear Tree, was an EP recorded with Kaki King at Baucom Road Studios in North Carolina. Kaki King is a fingerstyle guitarist and former busker (and Gardasil spokesperson) known for her distinctive picking and fret-tapping style. The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle has been a big fan of King for a while (he was writing about her in his Last Plane to Jakarta webzine back in 2006), so it was a a fun chance to collaborate on six songs.
Strangely, though, Kaki King's distinctive sound is not prominent on the EP, apart from the two songs where she sings. Her guitar-playing seems focused on serving Darnielle's songs, which is an admirable approach to take, but the songs could have more distinctive and memorable arrangements. One song on the EP where it comes together well is the song "Supergenesis", which features King playing an effects-laden slide guitar part that ebbs and surges in sync with Darnielle's retelling of the temptation in the Garden of Eden. Darnielle posits what might have been going on in the head of the serpent after his cursing, as he wonders whether he deserves such a punishment for questioning the status quo and looks forward to some vague revenge he imagines in the future.
"Supergenesis" by the Mountain Goats & Kaki King
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