Most bios attempt to describe the music made by the band they're profiling, and to compare it favorably to the work of giants in the field. This isn't that kind of bio. The general musical framework within which the Mountain Goats have worked for ten-plus years has been acoustic guitar, bass, and voice. The lyrics are central to the whole enterprise. Many of the songs involve desperate characters who've found themselves in some trouble and want to moan about it a little before taking their lumps. The sexual tension between characters in your average Mountain Goats song could split the atom if the power could be harnessed, but it can't, so forget it. Now you know what we know. Go forth and sin no more.