Secret Mountains - Rainer [2013]

Rainer is out today, and was available streaming via Stereogum starting last night. The record is short on tracks (only seven of them) but long on riffs - these are long, introspective songs, and the entire record clocks in around 45 minutes, which seems pretty common these days and is definitely pretty hefty for so few tracks. This is their debut LP, and while they have lots of good songs that they've chosen not to record again for it, I don't blame them for playing their hand close to the vest. Better to have fewer strong songs than end up with some filler, and they've managed to create a nice little slice of music in which the parts all make sense together. As much as I want more songs as a fan, I endorse the decision to keep it short.

This isn't a first impression, more like a fifth, but it helps that I have some experience with these tracks already. Only three seem really new, and I feel like I've heard parts of the title track somewhere before, perhaps under a different name, which, after the recent single, would leave only one truly new song on the whole record. However, almost everything about these old songs is new again. Weepy Little Fingers, Make Love Stay, and Golden Blue all retain the same basic shape as their predecessors, but the colors and textures, the pacing and drama - they're all different. There are new riffs, new noises, new shifts in cadence and feeling fleshing these tracks out more completely. They never seemed particularly thin before, but it's now fairly clear that they were basically live takes - and it's really great to see what they were able to do with them in a proper studio. But that's the least of the changes. First, check out the old version of High Horse from their Shaking Through Session:

and then check out the new official video for it below. Worlds apart. The video is nice too. Obvious themes of life and death are obvious.


Secret Mountains - "High Horse" Official Video from Brian Papish on Vimeo.

The way this track has changed with studio production is profound. The amount of restraint they show taking it down a notch, making it as eerie and haunting as it became, is impressive. I had no idea they were capable of sounding like this, and I'm very curious to find out if this was their vision, or their producer's, because I want to know who to thank. On the topic of production, it pays to point out that as far as I'm concerned, all the right decisions have been made. Kelly Laughlin's vocals are buried when they should be buried, and clear when they should be clear. The way the album flows from track to track is better than I could have even hoped for. The ambient sounds and field recordings are lush and just loud enough to be noticed, as they should be. The drums are neat and clean have not lost their characteristic driving (and dramatic) momentum. This album sounds great on speakers with a good low end, but it sounds even better on really nice headphones, so you can hear all the little noises in the background - and there are a lot of them. I had my jaw drop a time or two trying to get my mind to keep up with what I was hearing. It's been a long time since a band have done that for me, and it makes me think they have the potential to become truly great.

After seeing them live once (out of two attempts), hearing the early tracks, and now hearing the record, it's pretty obvious that they're one of those bands who play a song one way live, and another way in the studio, which is GREAT, in my opinion. Gives you a reason to go to the shows, and I'll be going on Saturday (March 2nd) for the record release party at Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn. Those of you in their hometown of Baltimore can catch them at The Bell Foundry on Thursday February 28th.

P.S. - She sounds like another vocalist I like, but I can't place it. If you can think of the answer, please put it in the comments. It's driving me nuts.