THE BREEDERS: MOUNTAIN BATTLES (2008)
1) Overglazed; 2) Bang On; 3)
Night Of Joy; 4) We're Gonna Rise; 5) German Studies; 6) Spark; 7) Istanbul; 8)
Walk It Off; 9) Regalame Esta Noche; 10) Here No More; 11) No Way; 12) It's The
Love; 13) Mountain Battles.
Well... no mistake about it, this is yet another Breeders album, and it
still got that old Pod vibe. But it
is also hard to get rid of the feeling that the Deal sisters sound either a
little tired, or a little uninspired. The only more or less upbeat song has to
be a cover (ʽIt's The Loveʼ by the Tasties), and the rest drag — not in the
curse sense of the word, but literally so. Lots of slow dirges, crawling,
stuttering, bleeding guitars, and vocals that already go beyond «somnambulant»
and move into «deadly wounded» category. Really, it makes me depressed just to
have to review this stuff, let alone listen to it one more time.
Not that the Deal sisters themselves would
agree with me, and plenty of reviewers probably wouldn't, either: they just
wrote something along the lines of «this is the best Breeders album since
[insert random Breeders album here]» and told us lots of things about how the
Breeders usually play and record their songs, which was of no use for Breeders
fans and of little help for Breeders neophytes, because one million indie-rock
bands that came since the Breeders played and recorded their songs like the
Breeders did. Anyway, I may be
totally confused here, but I sense pain, depression, and tiredness all over
these songs — never mind that they were allegedly recorded over a period of
five years, at different studios and with varying band lineups.
Do not be deceived by titles like ʽNight Of
Joyʼ and ʽWe're Gonna Riseʼ. The former rides upon a quietly threatening bass
line and is actually about a night of sorrow,
with vocals that stop two steps short of weeping; and ʽWe're Gonna Riseʼ is so
slow and plaintive, you kind of get the feeling that it will take a lot of calories (and time, and toil,
and trouble) for «us» to rise, whoever «we» are (the Deal sisters, the
Breeders, all the good people in general, all the bad people in general,
etc.).
The title track is really something — an
exercise in «gutter music» if there ever was one, most of it spent by Kim
excreting loosely joined phrases that give the illusion of being completely
free-form, over an array of electronic pulses and feedback blasts (yes, Steve
Albini is at the production wheel again, and how did you guess that?). It's
another impressive way to close an album, but it ain't nothing like the
humorous-vivacious ʽHufferʼ or the pretty-dreamy ʽDrivin' On 9ʼ — this one just
bleeds internally, with high fever, delirium, and everything that comes along.
Nothing too overtly shocking (Kim
Deal is no Courtney Love, and even her juvenile phase as Kim Deal is long
gone), but certainly not a pretty experience.
The problem is, while I can certainly respect
the vibe, Mountain Battles has a bit
too much in the drab, drag, limp, and stutter department about it to be treated
on par with the previous two albums, or even with Pod. This can have its positive effects — it may well be one of
those records that grows and grows on you, biding its time and waiting for you
to get sick, old, depres-sed, confused, broody, whatever, to appreciate its
subtle anti-charms, and at the present time, I am not quite there yet, though
I'm getting close. But then again, even this growth requires that the songs be
able to work like a lens, gathering your vibes and focusing them with the music
— and this doesn't really work with songs like ʽSparkʼ, which just meander
between mindless strumming and short shrieking guitar blasts and sound like
first-stage demos for classic Portishead («first stage» meaning just that — the
stage where you have only just begun visualizing what your song will eventually
sound like).
Sometimes Kim is just being cute without a
well-understood reason, for instance, when out of the blue she covers a Mexican
song (Roberto Cristobal's ʽRegalame Esta Nocheʼ), or creates a generic country
tune in her sleepwalking stylistics (ʽHere No Moreʼ). Sometimes the sisters
show off their knowledge — ʽIstanbulʼ, for instance, is a «novelty» number that
will please lovers of popular etymology (if it so happens that you do not get
the "where you're going?" - "to the city!"
call-and-response hook of the song, look up the ʽIstanbulʼ page on Wikipedia). Most
of the time, though, the experience just consists of the sisters morbidly
trading stern chunks of dark vocal pop to equally morbid guitar phrasing
(ʽGerman Studiesʼ, ʽSparkʼ, etc.), and you really
have to get in the mood to «get» the attitude, or, rather, the necessity of
getting the attitude.
I am positively sure that some people will want
to defend Mountain Battles as an
essential Breeders album — perhaps even go as far as to claim that this one has
the deepest mystery of 'em all. And they may be right, but under one condition:
that one regards the Breeders themselves as an essential band, worth exploring
from their humble «Pixies offshoot» beginning and all the way down to that
as-of-yet-to-come age when an 80-year old Kim Deal and a 110-year old Bob Dylan
record a duet album of Cole Porter songs. I am not quite sure that Kim Deal is that important a character — I'll take
her when she rocks and invents whacko pop hooks, but when she's sulking like
this, demanding that we spend too much time on all her whims (including
crooning in Spanish), it's a little different.
Thumbs up all the same
— far be it from me to put down an etymologically relevant record — but if
this is going to be the last full-length Breeders LP (which is far from
certain, as the Deals tend to really enjoy their long breaks), it's definitely
a low-key exit that offers no true resolution to the saga of the Breeders. Then
again, maybe that is the best
resolution.
Has Abbey Road become your hallmark for how you would like bands to end their careers?
ReplyDeleteI meant to say "standard", not "hallmark".
DeleteNope. I'm also quite partial to "In Through The Out Door".
DeleteA surprising change of heart. Looking forward to the review in 2025.
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