The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle has a voice so fragile
and melodies so elegant that even when he’s downright pissed
off (which happens often), there’s an underlying tenderness
to his work. As they were on previous Mountain Goats releases,
Darnielle’s bare-bones compositions on We Shall All Be
Healed are limited primarily to strummed acoustic guitar and
vocals. These stark backdrops lend certain warmth to his odd, often
acerbic lyrics. Who else could sing a line such as “A year or
so ago I worked at a liquor store / And a guy came in / Tried to
kill me / So I shot him in the face” and still sound so
affectionate?
— Joel Hoard
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars