A few weeks back, I hit All Tommorrow’s Parties in Sydney and caught Harmonia, featuring some of the legendary players in 1970s krautrock and electronica – Neu’s Michael Rother, Dieter Mobius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius. They appeared on a sun-drenched harbourside stage in the middle of the afternoon, which – depending on your point of view – was either the best or the worst place to see them. Nonetheless, it ticked off another in the ongoing list “Artists That I Must See Before They Or I Die”.
This brings us circuitously to Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp, trading as Mountains – an act which feed directly from Harmonia’s spacial continuum. Harmonia is actually a perfect departure point, particularly the influence of Michael Rother’s guitar work, as we check our passports at the start of Mountain’s latest album release ‘Choral’. But such a direct reference doesn’t detract from the precise, sculpted expertise that Mountains exhibit, as they layer exquisite electronic excursions with reverb guitar fuzz, sun-kissed strings and a cherry-pick of acoustic instrumentation. The net result is an expansive savanna that stretches out in front of us, peppered with references to specific trajectories, yet stacked with seemingly infinite possibilities. Six tracks build together to form the album, which is available from February 17th via Thrill Jockey.
Mountains have curated their own label, Apestaartje, over the last ten years – featuring many examples of similar experimentation, including earlier Mountains releases. Despite experiencing some neglect in recent times, their web site contains a full release catalog and accompanying audio streams.
Mountains – Choral | mp3
img | josef stuefer