The Mountain Goats: Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan review – shipwreck songs from a master storyteller

John Darnielle’s penchant for a concept album has already produced the likes of Beat the Champ (about wrestling), Bleed Out (action movies) and Goths (alternative music in his teens). Now, the 23rd Mountain Goats album tackles – but of course – the story of a small crew shipwrecked on a desert island in which the surviving members, including titular captain Peter Balkan, are plagued by “diminishing resources and apocalyptic visions”.

After the title came to him in a dream, Darnielle has certainly, er, pushed the boat out in bringing all this to life. The instrumentation includes piano, woodwind, strings, brass and harp and the band draw from a palette of genres including electronic, symphonic balladry, prog and powerpop. It ends up a bit like the soundtrack to an imaginary musical as the songs trace a narrative arc – a feeling enhanced by the presence of Lin-Manuel Miranda on backing vocals. The crew cheerily set sail in the lovely Fishing Boat (“free as the churn of the riptide”) and start to encounter problems in Cold at Night (“on the third day you said you felt sick”). Darnielle defiantly yells “No one here is gonna die alone” in the pounding Dawn of Revelation and effectively writes their epitaph in Broken to Begin With.

However, this isn’t a dark album. It’s sumptuously crafted, full of gallows humour and – as with so much of Darnielle’s best work – delving below the surface reveals layers of deeper meaning about humanity, togetherness and the precious joys of being alive.