THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Jenny from Thebes (Merge) — Now that the Mountain Goats’ main man, John Darnielle, has solidified his successful side hustle as a nimble novelist, it makes perfect sense that he’s embracing similar deep-dive storytelling in his songwriting. That’s nothing new for Darnielle, of course. It’s fairly commonplace for a Mountain Goats album to have the emotional clarity and narrative rigor of a short story collection. For the band’s latest, officially their twenty-second full-length, he circles back to Jenny, a character introduced on the breakthrough release All Hail West Texas (and who popped up occasionally ever since). Jenny from Thebes is a concept album about where Jenny’s life stands now, but it’s also an album-length discourse on outsider identity, modern-day dissatisfaction with society’s most wearying elements, and a general longing for something more. Basically, it’s business as usual at Mountain Goats HQ, and that’s a very good thing. The band is in fine form throughout, blasting through songs with boisterous melodies and lyrics filled with turns of phrase so quintessentially Darniellian that it’s a wonder he hasn’t alit on them before. “Rest until you’re rested, climb back onto the caravan/ Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can,” from “Clean Slate,” is like a vertebrae transplanted from any number of preceding donor songs. Getting added help from Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, Matt Nathanson, and legendary Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine, the Mountain Goats are keeping the caravan bounding along. Don’t loss Jenny‘s number with the following cuts: “Ground Level,” “Fresh Tattoo,” “Murder at the 18th St. Garage,” and “Water Tower.”

ROBERT FINLEY Black Bayou (Easy Eye Sound) — Robert Finley’s fourth studio album is a righteous rifle shot of succulent, swampy blues music. Black Bayou is Finley’s third effort made in simpatico collaboration with Dan Auerbach, the Black Keys’ axeman and Easy Eye Sound impresario, and it’s easy to hear the album as what Auerbach longs to make every time he crosses the threshold of a studio. (This time around, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney lends his services, too.) It’s roughly rendered and exquisitely played at the same time, Finley’s raspy shouts conveying authenticity so undeniable that it wouldn’t be any more convincing if Howlin’ Wolf himself descended from the heavens to bestow his blessing. On the cheatin’ woman lament “”Sneakin’ Around,” Finley makes it clear that a song that there’s nothing wrong with a song that relies on a well-worn topic. After all, well-worn can really just mean that there’s a deep groove in place. He ranges nicely from the rich, heartfelt ballad “Lucky Day” to the grimly hilarious tale of questionable grandfatherly judgement in rearing techniques found in “Alligator Bait.” All the while, that guitar grinds and that voice rumbles. The music is truer than true. Take a good, long soak in this Bayou with “Livin’ Out a Suitcase,’ “Waste of Time,” and “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely.”