The Sunset Tree is the ninth studio album by the Mountain Goats, released on April 26, 2005 by 4AD.

The album's songs revolve around the house John Darnielle grew up in and the people who lived there, including his mother, sister, stepfather, friends, and enemies.

[3] The album title refers to a scene in Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh[4] in which the character Theobald beats his son Ernest for being unable to pronounce a hard C when singing a hymn.

The tone of the album is somber, dealing with Darnielle's longing for escape and his feelings of powerlessness, building up to the song "Lion's Teeth", which Darnielle has described as a "revenge fantasy" in an introduction to a live performance of the song.

Darnielle closes the song and the album with a lyric about his sister calling him to inform him of his stepfather's death.