John Darnielle had pro wrestling on his mind Saturday at a sold-out Vic. The affable Mountain Goats vocalist/guitarist lectured on its regional history, explained terms and devoted a chunk of his band’s 100-minute set to new songs related to the subject.
Avoiding the phony drama often associated with the sport, the group turned wrestling-based narratives into allegories about situations, feelings and choices. Exploring dichotomies between good and evil, alienation and love, and persistence and resignation, fare such as the balladic “Southwestern Territory” served as perceptive insights into the human condition — particularly the emotions and experiences of the underdog, a type that has long informed Darnielle’s work.
Revered in indie-rock circles for writing storytelling songs steeped in literary detail and fictive devices, Darnielle recently added “National Book Award-nominated author” to his resume after his “Wolf In White Van” novel drew considerable acclaim. His higher-profile status mirrors the Mountain Goats’ maturation into a sharp, structured ensemble whose more accomplished musical approach bears faint resemblance to the crude lo-fi style of Darnielle’s early efforts.
The group continues to evolve. Multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas expanded the core trio into a quartet, and accented the Mountain Goats’ folk-rock foundations with jazzy colors by way of saxophone, woodwind and keyboard lines. Horn interjections caused “Cry for Judas” to twitch and instilled the galloping “Slow West Vultures” with spunk. Calm moments also benefitted from added instrumentation. A clarinet underlined the hushed sadness overshadowing “Get Lonely,” which Darnielle delivered in a pinched voice no louder than a whisper.
A reverential audience gave the Mountain Goats all the quiet — and shouted refrains — they required. Darnielle reciprocated by transforming the latter third of the concert into a joyous event in which the separation between singer and crowd largely disappeared. Wearing a rumpled sportscoat and glasses and jumping around like a giddy little boy on Christmas morning, Darnielle showed he was just a fan and a geek himself — no different than the fed-up competitor who snaps on “Foreign Object,” the victim who rises up on “Up the Wolves” or the pushover who breaks free on “This Year.”
“Stay alive,” Darnielle sang and repeated. For the Mountain Goats and their cast of underdogs, survival means triumph. By any means necessary.
Gendron is a freelance writer.