THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ALBUMS AS SCENTS
Zopolite Machine: Vodka, crushed palm and banana leaves, guava juice, orange rind zest, and a soft white floral bouquet tucked gently in the barrel of a well-oiled gun.
Sweden: Crushed strawberries, cold night air, heavy cream, crackling flames, cheap berry wine covered by a brown paper bag, and a mixed bag of pilfered candies including caramel creams, vanilla taffy, and chocolate coconut clusters.
Nothing For Juice: Atlantic sea spray, pine needles, river mud, poppy and lotus blooms, and blackberry stained fingertips.
Full Force Galesburg: Fresh spring grass and rustling cornstalks, Mississippi river water, cottonwood blossoms, beeswax candles, honey, and sweet cherry preserves waiting to be spread on toast made from dollar-store bread.
The Coroners Gambit: Turbinado sugar, peony, magnolia, daisy, dusty feathers, laundered money and the lingering scent of gasoline.
All Hail West Texas: Shining chrome-coated steel, dried leaves, dusty asphalt, whiskey, yellowed paper letters stashed in the back of a desk drawer, and a flashing caution light at an empty intersection at midnight.
Tallahassee: Lime juice, cracking faux-leather car seats, chipped paint and bathroom mildew, ozone, embers rising from a burning house and the remains of a smashed bottle of the cheapest gin at the liquor store.
We Shall All Be Healed: Rum and Cokes gone flat, room temperature black coffee, photo development chemicals, clove cigarette smoke, gunpowder, and cake crumbs ground into polyester motel carpeting.
The Sunset Tree: Scotch from a stolen flask, wine coolers, willow trees, half-melted ice creams, smeared red drugstore lipstick, diesel exhaust floating in from the highway, and the glowing scent of clean skin and hope.
Get Lonely: Algae and clary sage, too-hot coffee, kerosene, dew covered evening grass, lingering vanilla perfume, dirty pennies on the sidewalk, and neon signs seen from the window of a public bus passing through a sleeping town.
Heretic Pride: Bruised jasmine, honeysuckle, dirt, charred sandalwood, faint woodsmoke, and dust rising in humid summer air.
The Life Of the World to Come: Deep red wine, fresh cut cedar, fireplace ashes gone cold, dried rose petals, ibuprofen and asprin bitterness, and the scent of the heavy grey clouds of a swiftly approaching storm.
All Eternals Deck: Stale bread crusts, calligraphy ink, black amber, desert sand, peeled ginger, rosemary, sunlight on warm skin, and Polaroids held at arms length being set fire to by a butane lighter.
Transcendental Youth: Rain on dirty asphalt, spent matches, carnation blooms, frosted windows, linen sheets, oak splinters, and money clenched in a salty, sweaty fist.
Beat The Champ: Scratched bronze, coppery blood, skin musk, aftershave, worn leather, dandelion sap, popcorn and sticky soda concessions crushed underfoot, and charred paper ashes carried on a midnight wind.
