Speck Mountain’s session in John McEntire’s Chicago studio must’ve come with a free flowing stock of valium and warm milk. Summer Above‘s seven songs never try to outreach the psych-y drones and organ-inflected Mazzy stars that color most of the intro effort — instead their dream pop revels in reverb, and slowly marches to a tambourine-marked pulse and Marie-Claire Balabanian crystalline vocal beam. The innocence-lost ballad “Stockholm” is a must grab, seeing a jilted girl’s grief turn from “a fjord into a lake.” Heartbreaking, right? Soundtrack worthy. We’ve also included the title track so you can get a dose of Speck when things aren’t quite as dire (though just as lovely).
Be sure to check out “Fjord Song” and the very Mazzy “Midnight Sun” at MySpace. Summer Above is out 10/2 via Burnt Brown Sounds.
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sick blog… i’m surprised that i only stumbled on it now, i guess that’s the magic of technorati
check me out if you actually read this:
http://wmdeez.wordpress.com/
Why is it that any new band insists on a photo of themselves that look likes they are lined up to be shot? When a band looks that mopey I have zero desire to find out what their music sounds like.
You get to play music for money! Smile!
You should listen! They’re very good! Yay MC!!!
I agree, why the mug shot picture?!
Great band, they have an interesting sound.
“you get to play music for money! smile!”
obviously you’ve never toured with an indie rock band.
Interesting… I’ve been listening to a self-released album by a band called ILAD that was engineered by McEntire. NATIONAL FLAGS.
Speck Mtn sounds good, but a little derivative.
Y’all might want to check out ILAD. Much more experimental melodically. Guitar, Keys, Electronics, Electric and Acoustic Basses, and tight-tight drumming with vocals sort of mixed back into the music. I’m sure they have a myspace, if yr into that kind of thing.
p.s. I like “Summer Above” better than “Stockholm” for some reason. May be the instrumentation. Thing is, you know SOMA has a vibraphone, yet the band insists on simulating one on keys… kind of disappointing.
I don’t know, i think it’s pretty clear that they’re not trying to simulate a vibraphone at all.
That rhodes sound is pretty far from a vibraphone.
great song too!
woah! by chance i caught these guys at Make Out Room in SF. I was there for my friend’s band, and Speck Mountain was headlining. I had no idea what to expect, but they just ended up totally blowing me away.
i picked up the album, which is gorgeous by the way. but what i really dig is that their live sound is quite different from the album. there’s this intense energy live, but still restrained and calm somehow. i don’t know. i’m just sick of hearing bands that sound exactly the same on record as they do onstage.
it’s great to see that these guys are getting some love.
I have Stockholm in my current playlist right now. I keep skipping between that and St. John and the Revelations ‘Gods Among Men’.
It’s a great time for good music if you know where to look.
Thanks StereoGum.
First off, i must echo the last poster’s thank you! I’ve been an avid follower of stereogum for quit e a while. With all the garbage floating around these days, it’s rare to come across music that is just pure. I ran down to the store the other day and got this album.
It drifts from mood to mood, all in a warm, space-y shell. And by the time they reach their my bloody valentine-esque, krautrockin jam at the end, it just feels like a flawless fucking record. Lovin it!
i hear what a/v’s talking about with the vibrato on the rhodes. why not use a vibraphone while you have access to one? this is a good band, i’ll give you that, but it has been done before, in many different combinations. we liked it when we first heard it in the late 80s, and again in the early 90s. those records are still for sale, and some of those bands are actually still touring. not feeling the dave matthews saxophone though… actually reminds me some of the saxophone parts in some pretty Shrimpboat songs.
checked out ILAD on their myspace. nice. real nice.
Cool. I was looking through some of McEntire’s recent projects and came across Speck Mountain. Looks like he’s been recording more and more jazz stuff too. Interesting that Ilad is also mentioned here… I listened to them a few days ago. Does anyone know anything about them by chance? Sorry to derail here, but I am really getting in to this music. Myspace crashes my computer, otherwise I’d go there to check it out.
Karl Briedrick is the man…. and he chunked out again. Yes!
LOL at the above comment. I remember you, Adam Brown…still a fucker I hope!
This came up in a google search for ilad… I know this is now two years old, but I love these two songs~! I had never heard of Speck Mountain before this… I just ordered Some Sweet Relief and Summer Above. I heart the internets.