The Extra Lens
Undercard
Merge

John Darnielle has experienced the epitome of cult stardom: He released 20-plus albums in the last 19 years under his moniker The Mountain Goats and established a meager yet religiously dedicated following. Most importantly, however, he’s remained dedicated to his own style of high-strung narrative rock that keeps him tethered to his under-the-radar obscurity.

On Undercard, Darnielle works with long-time collaborator Franklin Bruno (from Nothing Painted Blue) under the name The Extra Lens to produce, essentially, a watered-down Mountain Goats album.

Lyrically, many Goats signatures remain — lots of anxious warbling about the pitfalls of America, criminals and teenagers — yet Undercard lacks much of the gravity and cohesion that made albums like The Sunset Tree and last year’s The Life of the World to Come so memorable. Oftentimes, the emotive honesty of Darnielle’s voice feels drowned in heavy electric guitar and unnecessary backup vocals.

But Undercard isn’t completely devoid of charm. “Cruiserweights” is an amusing, subdued cut, while the campy 1960s beach-rock organ of “Some Other Way” makes for a pleasant detour amongst the album’s more tiring musical experiments.

If Undercard’s low points sound like unfinished ideas stretched into full songs (“Rockin’ Rockin’ Twilight of the Gods”), the high points are simply unfinished ideas left unfinished. The brief, yet awesome, “How I Left the Ministry” falls into the latter category as a classic Darnielle story-song surrounding a cheating couple’s car accident. Meanwhile, other tracks are just downright baffling, like “In Germany Before the War,” a somber overture to a make-believe musical about WWII.

To his fans, Darnielle has always been a poetic messiah who blankets his audience members in urgent, literary anthems, reducing them to tears during live performances. To the rest of the world, he’s just a distant guest spot on “The Colbert Report.”

In all likelihood, you either respect John Darnielle or you’ve never heard of him. Undercard does nothing to tip the scales. (5/10)