The Mountain Goats don’t really have a Christmas album, or really any Christmas music, which is wild for a band that prides itself on being the best damn Durham-based Christian Dad rock on the planet (or at least in North Carolina.) Due to the lack of Christmas tunes, I nominate “Emerging” from the album Moon Colony Bloodbath, because it’s the Goats song that most often makes my husband shout “Jesus Christ Erin,” and isn’t He truly the reason for the season?
“Emerging” is a song that, when you first hear it, you think “wait, is this song about a cannibal eating human bodies on the moon?” and then you look up the lyrics and yup, that’s exactly what this song is about.
The entire 5-song EP Moon Colony Bloodbath is fantastic. The album is a collaboration between John Vanderslice and John Darnielle. The theme is loosely about folks who grow clones on the moon to harvest human organs for transplant patients. These folks get special privileges, like living in the lap of luxury when not on the moon, cause living on the moon makes you a little crazy.
The whole thing is great and well worth your time, plus Vanderslice’s songs are fantastic as well. Merry Christmas everyone, from the moon to sloping Colorado hills.
