Former Brooklyn duet Mountains have traversed a meandering terrain of curving acoustics, lush tonal meadows and the occasional grey out of shadowy noise. Their music speaks both to openness – a possible escape from more urban surroundings – and a sense of the internal. Early records felt as though you may have stumbled across the two musicians creating sound from deep within the woods, albeit housed in a cosy wooden cabin.
With Air Museum though there’s a distinct shift in Mountains audio portraiture. Gone are the more open sound spaces, in their place is a rich, but noticeably more dense sonic environment. Synths play an increased role in their sound, creating directing pulses over which the songs take shape (take ‘Sequel’ for example). The synths also feature heavily in the melodic make up of many of the pieces as ‘S&H’ and filters carve linear and abstract shapes into the electronics, creating an altogether more active sound. Rather than creating more long distance views, this music is acute and detailed, a more mid range sense of depth. It’s not until the closing moment of ‘Backwards Crossover’ and then into the first phrases of ‘Live At The Triple Door’ that a sense of openness really permeates into the album.
Air Museum is in many ways a fresh chapter in Mountains songbook. It’s a marked, but logic development that perhaps reflects more on their live performance mode than previous studio practices. There’s a presence here, a sense of direction and instantaneous interplay which is distinct from other albums they’ve released. Air Museum feels like the first steps into a thicker, denser sonic wood, in which Mountains now find themselves uncovering songs.
Lawrence English
