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- Summary: The latest full-length release from The Mountain Goats is a rock opera featuring the character Jenny (who has appeared in songs on 2001's Jam Eater Blues, 2002's All Hail West Texas and 2012's Transcendental Youth).
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- Record Label: Merge
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 7
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Mixed: 1 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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Oct 25, 2023One of this record’s biggest achievements might be building out the character of Jenny while managing to not sacrifice her central mystery.
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UncutOct 25, 2023A familiarity with the back-story is not necessary to enjoy this potted indie-rock opera: as always with Darnielle's work, an appreciation of droll storytelling and deadpan melodies will do. [Dec 2023, p.34]
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Oct 25, 2023Perhaps it's just the associative properties, but it feels like Jenny from Thebes manages to truly distill the manic energy of the Mountain Goats' formative phase into a maturing yet vital shape, giving it a place in the upper reaches of their pantheon.
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Oct 25, 2023While Jenny from Thebes is a self-proclaimed rock opera, it defies the expectations of that genre inasmuch as it’s not a sprawling, self-indulgent double album. Moreover, it stands on its own.
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Nov 1, 2023In a way, Jenny From Thebes is precisely about the struggle to find the right distance: from the past, from other people, from ourselves. Darnielle is a master of the perspective shot; he is often at his most vivid when writing in the second person.
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Oct 27, 2023If Jenny From Thebes may be a bit more cryptic than his best work, every song contains a yarn worth hearing, and his quietly bold, ordinary-guy delivery is surprisingly flexible, adjusting itself to fit any situation he presents.
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Oct 27, 2023Jenny from Thebes, depending on one’s fascination with The Mountain Goats’ 30-odd years of winding lore, may either have the connotation of your dad and his group of friends finally getting around to making that album they always talked about, or, where charity applies, stay just high enough above passability that it can be recommended by fans with the asterisk, ‘one of the better ones.’