Ecstatic Music Fest:
The Mountain Goats
& Anonymous 4

Co-commissioned by the Barbican

This concert is sold out, but tickets may become available closer to the concert date.

The Mountain Goats are joined by the vocal quartet Anonymous 4 in a collaborative presentation of songs from Transcendental Youth, a new work by John Darnielle (pictured) of the Mountain Goats ("one of America's most startling lyricists," Boston Globe). Anonymous 4, celebrating their 25th anniversary, are famous for their purity of tone and astounding blend, gaining wide recognition for their intense scholarship and attention to historical context, both in medieval and early American repertoire.

Transcendental Youth features new songs from Darnielle, heard here in special arrangements for voices, piano and guitar by the acclaimed musical polymath Owen Pallett. The songs visit a small community on Puget Sound in Washington, north of Seattle at the foot of Glacier Peak, and are inhabited by the mournful voices of the isolated and the lost in motels and apartment complexes around Snohomish County.

A short solo Mountain Goats set begins the evening, followed by Anonymous 4 performing selections from their rich catalog in a program curated by both Darnielle and A4, and concluding with the collaborative performance.