First though, a little background. Secret Mountains are a six-piece from Baltimore playing blissed-out psych-rock with a distinct self-indulgent bent, which is a big draw for me. I'm a sucker for "big" music, and their songs seem to tower over me as I listen, getting larger and taller as the layers pile on. Kelly Laughlin's vocals are haunting and forlorn, and just a little bit hesitant sometimes - as if she's not sure she wants to confess such significant thoughts and feelings, but is compelled to anyway. I can't understand what she's singing most of the time, but I can just barely make out words here and there, which really adds to the excitement-of-discovery feeling I get with this band that I haven't had in a long time. Each song feels new for longer than it should - though it's worth mentioning that it also takes awhile to be able to tell their songs apart from one another. That's not necessarily a bad thing, to have such similarity in style between tracks, at least not in this case, for me, because I really eat this shit up. The songs tend to be geometric and climactic, rising and falling with satisfying predictability as layers of noodling guitars stack up with layers of more ambient color coming from the keyboards and extra guitar. The vocals are generally a little buried, melting back into the big picture being painted as you listen, which had an entrancing effect on me. Before now, they've only released a few singles and EPs, mostly sold out, but all well worth tracking down. You can get their Winter Sessions tape on Bandcamp, and their Kaddish EP is on Spotify. You can also hear their Rejoice tape on Bandcamp, and their recent single High Horse is on Bandcamp and Spotify. edit: and there's a new version of the song along with an official video on vimeo.
The new single cuts in a little startlingly - these bongos are clearly leading out from another song on the record. Before actually getting to the song itself, can I just say how excited I am by this? I know production techniques like this are hardly new, but I was really hoping this album would flow like that, because that sort of production decision seemed like it would suit their play style. So i'm delighted to see it's likely going to be the case. The guitar riff kicks in with an immediate ambient accompaniment, creating a dark, foreboding mood that only gets intensified as Ms. Laughlin starts cooing over the top. The ambient backing swirls and rises and drags us into the actual song as the drums kick in and the floaty guitar is replaced by a lower one, at which point the mood becomes a little less muddy and dark, a little more distantly hopeful. That's probably one of my favorite things about this band throughout their earlier releases - how good they are at nailing that feeling of hope or triumph over adversity. This is a band that also does big climaxes well - but this song does not have one. They get a good thing going, and build some really nice tension and mood. Towards the end a building wall of guitars starts to appear, and Kelly comes back for one more line - and then cuts you off abruptly. Normally, this is the kind of thing that would drive me up a wall a little bit (though this is not nearly as bad an example as some others), and I've not really heard this from them before. But I expect it will work really well in the context of the record, as long as it's been produced with an ear to its flow, which seems pretty likely because of how the intro is cut. As a single, I'm not sure of the choice, but it might have simply been the shortest track on the record; their songs tend to run quite long (which is not a complaint, quite the opposite in fact). I really like the song, but it leaves me wanting more desperately - which I suppose might be a reasonable goal to have accomplished with a lead single.
Rainer
