Consumer Guide Album

The Mountain Goats: Jenny From Thebes [Merge, 2023]
I'll leave it to certified John Darnielle obsessives to figure out to what extent these lyrics expand on the implicit narrative of 2002's All Hail West Texas. Since it's no simple matter to follow his plots, if that's what they are, merely approximating them is a lot easier. So let's just say "the Jenny character" is a genuine hero of a sizable if aging alt-rock bohemia, a perilous and changeable subculture that has long been the center of Darnielle's life and work. This is mostly because she's kind: "Aging motorcycles purr like cats when they grow near/I was crying, I could barely make the frame out through my tears/She did/Long before we did/She did/Long before we did/Jenny, you did/Long before I did." B+