Name: The Coroner's Gambit
Brand: The Mountain Goats

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

MRG800.1

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2024-06-28

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

673855080017

Total Cap

9999

Black LP

MRG800.2

673855080024

Artist

The Mountain Goats

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Merge Records

The Mountain Goats are an American indie folk band formed in Claremont, California by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. Although initially a solo project, Darnielle has collaborated with various musicians over the years. In the 1990s, they gained recognition for their lo-fi home recordings and releases on cassette or vinyl formats. Since 2002, the band has recorded studio albums with a full lineup. Currently based in Durham, North Carolina.

Line-ups:
<ul>
<li>1991-1996: John Darnielle and Rachel Ware</li>
<li>2002-2007: John Darnielle and Peter Hughes</li>
<li>2007-2015: John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster</li>
<li>2015-present: John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, Jon Wuster, Matt Douglas</li>
</ul>

Occasional members:
<ul>
<li>1991-1995: Sarah Arslanian, Amy Piatt, Rosanne Lindley</li>
<li>1995-present: Franklin Bruno, Erik Friedlander, John Vanderslice</li>
</ul>

Newest Listed Items

Originally released in October 2000, The Coroner’s Gambit finds John Darnielle between physical and sonic spaces, five of its sixteen songs recorded in Simon Joyner’s Omaha, Nebraska, studio, five more at home in Colo, Iowa, and the rest in Ames.

The album came together slowly; the Mountain Goats had released music every year from 1991 to 1998, but between the release of that year’s New Asian Cinema EP and The Coroner’s Gambit, 1999 passed without an official Mountain Goats release. The additional time that went into The Coroner’s Gambit paid off: it is a breakthrough for Darnielle as a songwriter and practitioner of the full-length album. His characters are sharply drawn, the immaculately appointed lore of the worlds they occupy providing them some shelter from the storm.

He has grown as a guitarist and in voice, wringing moments of sweetness and humour from songs of fury and lament, nimbly modulating from mourning to longing, passing air through the lungs of the dead and survivors alike.

The mix of home and studio recordings grants The Coroner’s Gambit a thrilling sense of immediacy while pointing towards a future that is soon to break open with All Hail West Texas and Tallahassee. The Coroner’s Gambit is a masterpiece in its own right, an introspective epic that further burnishes Darnielle’s reputation as one of our greatest songwriters, one whose gift for confessional fabulism knows few rivals.

In the ensuing years since its original release The Coroner’s Gambit has become somewhat tricky to pin down in its entirety. Releasing the CD for the segment of the Mountain Goats massive who just wanted the songs, and the LP for those drawn to the ephemera of the album as a package, vinyl copies were housed in a paper bag that had additional Darnielle-penned liner notes printed on them. One thousand vinyl copies were issued, and, based on reports from the collector’s scene, far fewer than one thousand bags survive to the present, its text living on largely through Flickr albums and fan sites. The 2024 reissue marks the passage of time with new text and liner notes by Darnielle for CD and LP.

The Coroner's Gambit

Music US

Discover The Coroner's Gambit by The Mountain Goats on vinyl from Merge Records. A masterpiece album with a mix of home and studio recordings, showcasing Darnielle's songwriting prowess.