So I first got into The Mountain Goats with last year’s tour-de-force The Sunset Tree – roaring anthems and delicate ballads based around memories of John Darnielle’s abusive stepfather. I saw their infectious live show at the Corner, then chased a little into their vast back catalogue, at least as far as the Babylon Springs EP, We Shall All Be Healed and Tallahassee. Darnielle's shtick resonates with me; intensely personal narratives over simple folky arrangements, sometimes rocking, sometimes aching but always true.

"Can't get you/Out of my head/Lost without you/Half dead" - Half Dead

This year's release is Get Lonely, and that's what happens to the listener upon immersion; straight into that soul-black time immediately post-breakup, though not so much crying-in-the-bath as wandering-around-aimlessly.

"Some days I don’t miss my family/And some days I do/Some days I think I’d feel better if I tried harder/Most days I know it’s not true" - Wild Sage

It's the way the trauma constantly pushes into everyday life rather than the world shrinking to a ball of pain. This isn't to say that the album doesn't contain its share of deeply maudlin lines - "What are the years we gave each other/Ever gonna be worth" Half Dead - but as is Darnielle's wont, many of his brushstrokes have little immediate relation to the overall picture.

"Shadows on the broad lawn/Canopy of trees/Some time after midnight/The ground is gonna freeze" - New Monster Avenue

The musical brushstrokes are more sparse than the wordy lyrics. Darnielle's ever-present acoustic guitar is strummed gently, and slow tempos are the order of the day. The lyrics are choked out, half-spoken, and there are no distracting riffs in the background - string or keyboard parts are simple chords. The single, Half Dead, is almost pop in the context of the album, shuffling along thanks to drums and the catchy, minimal chorus. The other exception is the amusing, bouncy If You See Light - "When the villagers come to my door/I will hide underneath the table in the dining room/Knees drawn up to my chest" - Darnielle as witch?

Get Lonely has big shoes to fill. The Sunset Tree, while about even darker subject matter, had the perspective of decades, that what-doesn’t-kill-me-makes-me-stronger vibe. It's an uplifting listen, all major chords, anthems and morals - “I am gonna make it/Through this year/If it kills me” This Year - while Get Lonely is all minor chords and solitary voices. We're still mired in the wreckage after the earthquake.

Despite the depth of emotion, though, Get Lonely doesn't have the same enduring quality. It's because everyone everywhere has written songs post-breakup, and because the second half of the album falls away from intense bitter emptiness into gentle melancholy. This is still a good album; the literate tales are of all of us, and the spare arrangements are less simplistic than they appear. It lacks the obvious sing-alongs of its predecessor - though the Half Dead chorus is truly catchy – but consistently achieves its benchmark of pain.