More on: Speck Mountain

Label: Peace Frog
Release Date: 07/04/08
Rating:

Recorded over frequent sessions at a New York studio in the early hours of the morning, 'Summer Above' reflects its origins as music for the night owls: its relaxed pace and hazy arrangements akin to a still night in a desolate cityscape. Sadly, pacing issues and a few moments of monotony hold back Speck Mountain's debut from being something special.

The Chicago-based trio have certainly taken their time over their first release, and for the most part they've realised a dreamy selection of tunes for those in search of the musical equivalent of taking one too many sleeping pills. If you like Mazzy Star or The Velvet Underground, you'll find more than a few tracks scattered across the self-produced album that will garner interest. 'Girl Out West' is a lengthy trip across a desert of rumbling guitars and apathetic vocals that seems like a never-ending, pleasant test of endurance, while 'Hey Moon' meanders tentatively through a teasing riff carried by a subtle saxophone, flirting with an organ along the way. 'Fjord Song' is the best Kate, Karl and Marie-Claire offer, a sweeping, goosebump-inducing piece with Marie-Claire's reverberating vocals dropping against a bleak canvas of skillfully layered guitar that invokes images of frozen Scandanavian landscapes.

Unfortunately there are some issues that plague 'Summer Above'. While most songs are genuine ethereal chunks of psychedelic pop-rock, there are times this is overstepped and sections of a couple of tracks are looped over and over to the point where they inevitably become dull. Although there are two or three affected, 'Chlorine Fields' suffers worse from this, and even a spiraling organ doesn't do enough to stop the repetitive guitars hammering the brain enough times to make the listener skip to the final number. Clocking in at almost nine minutes long, it has far too much fat around its waist, and with other songs ranging between two and eight minutes, there are times when 'Summer Above' seems to stumble from something short and invigorating into a song that really shouldn't be as long as it is. Fortunately, the odd moments of madness don't damage the record too much, but it happens enough to mar their progress somewhat.

Credit must be given where it is due though, as there are more than a few good moments on Speck Mountain's debut that can be built upon next time around. Hopefully then they will throw overboard the repetitive, bloated minority that stop 'Summer Above' from living up to its true potential.

Graham Drummond

Speck Mountain Myspace