{"id":12401,"date":"2025-12-24T18:47:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T18:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=12401"},"modified":"2025-12-24T18:50:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T18:50:22","slug":"the-sunset-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/24\/the-sunset-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sunset Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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An Adolescent Boy Reviews The Mountain Goats\u2019 The Sunset Tree<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The album review that follows was salvaged from a battered spiral-ring notebook bearing the logo of 180 Degree Ministries, a Christian counseling program for \u201ctroubled teens\u201d operating out of Middle Tennessee. It has been edited for clarity (and profanity) by Charlie Clark.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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An installment in our continuing series<\/a>, in honor of the album\u2019s 20th anniversary.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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DECEMBER 19\u2014SOMETHING YOU LOVE\u2014GOD\u2019S LOVE FOR YOU???<\/h3>

I\u2019m supposed to write about something I love, and I figure if I do a good job, maybe that\u2019s one step closer to not having to come here anymore. There\u2019s this band called the Mountain Goats, and you\u2019re not going to like them, and I probably shouldn\u2019t even be talking to you about them because they say **** like \u201cHail, Satan\u201d and have songs about drugs and sex and stuff. And even my friends think it\u2019s weird that I like them because their sound is not heavy at all. But I\u2019m going to tell you about this album called The Sunset Tree<\/em>, which is probably their most popular album, and I guess, yeah, it\u2019s something I love.<\/p>

I never even heard of the Mountain Goats before last year. I went to this Ides of Gemini show (Ides is actually heavy and they have this girl singer that is super hot but I\u2019m not telling you about Ides.) at Mercy Lounge, and I\u2019d never been in there before because the metal shows are usually at High Watt on the other side of the building. And that\u2019s the main reason I had the fake ID by the way. You think I\u2019m walking into like a liquor store with that ****? Anyway, you don\u2019t need a fake to score a few beers, you just need to not be a total ******* idiot. I needed the fake because all the good shows are 18+.<\/p>

Ides was opening and they killed. They\u2019re like very doomy and you don\u2019t really mosh to them but there was a decent number of us up front that were metal or at least emo. The rest of the crowd was kind of weird and just hanging back. There were some girls that were kind of scene and also like old dudes in flannel shirts, and I\u2019m thinking, \u201cOkay, whatever the Mountain Goats are, I guess this is their crowd.\u201d And some of the metalheads left after Ides but a lot of them stayed or even moved up, so then I realized, \u201cOkay, they\u2019re here for this Goat band too.\u201d And that is how the Mountain Goats are\u2014like you\u2019re either in or you\u2019re out but anybody can be in and some of every type are. Anyway, I\u2019m like, \u201cI paid for this ticket, I guess I\u2019ll see what this is.\u201d<\/p>

John comes out solo and plays \u201cUnmasked!\u201d and like I said the sound is not heavy at all but that song is kind of goth, so I kind of got into it. And then the rest of the band came out and played \u201cUp the Wolves,\u201d and when they play it live the energy is extreme, like kick your teeth in extreme. Like John is just pounding the guitar and screaming. And everyone else is getting into it, and this whole weird crowd is screaming too, and I just get kind of dragged along. And we get to the part, where it\u2019s like \u201cI\u2019m gonna bribe the officials! I\u2019m gonna kill all the judges!\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, this is kind of heavy without sounding heavy,\u201d right?<\/p>

And that song is from The Sunset Tree<\/em>. And they played a couple other songs from The Sunset Tree<\/em> too. They played \u201cLove, Love, Love,\u201d which is this song that has a bunch of stuff from the Bible but also about Kurt Cobain and how love can make you do bad stuff, like even kill yourself. And they played \u201cHast Thou Considered the Tetrapod,\u201d and that sounds like it\u2019s from the Bible but I don\u2019t think it actually is, and it\u2019s about how John\u2019s stepdad used to beat him up when he was a kid and he was always just worried that he would break his stereo. And at the end they played \u201cThis Year\u201d and the crowd went crazy for that one. All I got was the chorus, which is just, \u201cI am going to make it through this year if it kills me!\u201d and everyone including me is just yelling that and it felt so ******* good.<\/p>

So after the show, I went over to the merch table and there was this girl working the table and I was looking at the CDs, and I picked up a copy of All Eternals Deck<\/em> because I liked the cover, and I flipped it over and some of the song titles sounded heavy\u2014like \u201cBeautiful Gas Mask\u201d and \u201cProwl Great Cain\u201d\u2014and the merch girl was like, \u201cHave you heard that one?\u201d And I was like, \u201cNo.\u201d So she says, \u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite?\u201d And I say, \u201cI never heard of them before tonight.\u201d And she was like, \u201cThen you should start with this one,\u201d and she pointed to The Sunset Tree<\/em>, and I think, \u201cOkay, how about you don\u2019t ******* tell me what the **** to do.\u201d But then someone wanted a shirt, so she turned around, and I slipped a Sunset Tree<\/em> CD in my jacket and got out of there.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jesus isn\u2019t going around lecturing everybody about their grades and trying to make them fit in and make varsity. He\u2019s just being with people. Like that\u2019s 90% of it. Just being a person like, \u201cI understand what you\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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And I started listening to that CD a lot. Mostly when it was just me. And the album is mostly about two things: getting abused by your stepdad and doing stupid **** (drugs, sex, breaking ****) because you\u2019re getting abused but also just because it\u2019s what you have to do. Like not even because it feels good but because like, \u201cThis is how I prove I\u2019m a human being.\u201d And I get that second part. Like I know nobody ever beat me up, but everything sucks, right? Like my dad is this washed-up preacher who works at State Farm and it\u2019s like ******* embarrassing, right? And mom has a new boyfriend every 20 minutes and they\u2019re all ******* losers. And now, I\u2019m here because I like to get high sometimes and because me and [redacted] are hooking up and dad is embarrassed in front of his church friends.<\/p>

And John is like, \u201cI was there. I get it.\u201d Like Steve if Steve wasn\u2019t the guy your dad pays to tell you to stop getting high and keep it in your pants and go to ******* school so you can go to ******* college so you can go work for ******* State Farm until you\u2019re 80 or whatever. (Sorry, Steve, but you suck, dude. Glad you were such a hard guy back in the day, but 180 degrees up your ***, okay?) Anyway, over the summer I was doing a lot of the things John talks about in those songs, you know. Like down to the baby aspirin, right? Like \u201cBroom People\u201d could have been written about my mom\u2019s house. It\u2019s just this gross house that you\u2019re trying to survive, but then you get a girlfriend and that\u2019s like something you can hold onto. And adults think that\u2019s stupid, but like me and [redacted] really care about each other. And maybe we\u2019re not going to get married and be together for 100 years. But so ******* what?<\/p>

Anyway, a lot of the songs on the album are kind of about anger or getting even, and you guys are always talking about \u201cunhealthy emotions\u201d and ****, but I\u2019m not even sure you\u2019re right about that. Like last week at church they read this thing where it\u2019s Mary, Jesus\u2019s mom, and she\u2019s like, \u201cGod scatters the proud and puts down the mighty and sends the rich away empty.\u201d Like that\u2019s pretty hardcore. She sounds pissed off and she\u2019s basically saying that Jesus is going to settle with everyone who thinks they\u2019re in charge.<\/p>

And I know what you\u2019d probably say, which is like, \u201cLook how Jesus actually acts.\u201d Like kindness, right? Like he heals some people and tells some stories, but mostly he\u2019s just waiting around to get killed, and then, he\u2019s like forgive, forgive, forgive, right? But first off, like, nobody is forgiving me. I mean, not unless I get on board with your whole thing and go all Eagle Scout class president. But second, that\u2019s kind of my point. Jesus isn\u2019t going around lecturing everybody about their grades and trying to make them fit in and make varsity. He\u2019s just being with people. Like that\u2019s 90% of it. Just being a person like, \u201cI understand what you\u2019re going through.\u201d And maybe he wants them to stop sinning, but first, he\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, first off, no one is not sinning and no one is throwing stones here.\u201d<\/p>

And that\u2019s kind of what \u201cPale Green Things\u201d is about, which is the last song on the album and probably my favorite right now. It\u2019s about how after his stepdad died, John was basically glad\u2014or maybe not glad but like relieved\u2014but for the first time he could look back and actually see a good moment they had together. Like you don\u2019t have to get rid of all the bad stuff\u2014the bad stuff you\u2019ve done, the bad stuff you\u2019ve had done to you\u2014you don\u2019t necessarily have to get rid of all that stuff to be okay. Because there\u2019s like this one blade of green grass that\u2019s growing up in the middle of all that. And you don\u2019t even see that it\u2019s there at the time but it\u2019s alive.<\/p>

So that\u2019s The Sunset Tree<\/em>. It\u2019s like John saying, \u201cThis is what happened to me.\u201d And like that\u2019s what happens to all of us. We are all scared and getting beaten up one way or another. And we are all doing stupid **** to cope with that. And John\u2019s like, let\u2019s just sit together and accept that for a minute. So, if there is a God\u2014and that gets a big IF from me by the way\u2014I guess one way he loves me is that basically all this is ****** and he is going to settle all of it one day. But on the other hand, maybe we\u2019ll look back and we\u2019ll see that, yeah, this all sucks and it\u2019s awful, but maybe there\u2019s something good growing in it too. And maybe that doesn\u2019t make it right or make it worth it, but it\u2019s real and it\u2019s what there is.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Charlie Clark<\/strong> is a writer and retractor<\/a>. He lives in New Hampshire.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Sunset Tree<\/strong> was released on April 26th, 2005, by 4AD. The album was produced by John Vanderslice. You can purchase a physical copy from the band here<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An installment in our continuing series, in honor of the album\u2019s 20th anniversary. Review edited by Charlie 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