Playlist (June 7)

Music

The '80s bands

[Photo provided to China Daily]

US singer John Darnielle has been a master of sharply observed character studies since he started releasing The Mountain Goats cassettes in the early '90s. He examined a dysfunctional couple on 2002's Tallahassee, dealt with his own troubled childhood on 2005's The Sunset Tree, and used tarot cards as a catalyst for 2010's All Eternals Deck.

After focusing on the rather hermetic world of professional wrestling for 2015's Beat the Champ, Darnielle turns his empathetic eye to another subculture: Black-clad goths and the rise and fall of the '80s bands they loved. Aside from the dramatic Rain in Soho, bolstered by a 16-voice choir, and the New Order-like coda to Shelved, the sound is far from goth: Darnielle eschews his usual guitars for a gentle Fender Rhodes, and new member Matt Douglas sweetens the spacious arrangements with woodwinds.