Album review: Mt Desolation – s/t
Mt Desolation are a side project of Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin aided by various members of Mumford and Sons, The Killers, Noah and The Whale and The Long Winters. Now before I start I should declare off that Keane are a band I have very little time for, I find their brand of generic indie anthems bland and uninspiring. So as you can imagine when I was presented with this debut from Mt. Desolation and saw who was involved my expectations were low to say the least. However when I saw that Mt Desolation were an alt.country band my interest was piqued and the CD won a reprieve from the ‘rubbish’ pile, and happily that turned out to be a good decision!
Musically the album is highly accomplished. Alt. Country might not be the style of music the members of Mt Desolation play in their day jobs but they play it well and considering that the key members of the band are all English it sounds authentic, especially on the faster paced songs like ‘Departure’ and ‘Platform 7,’ in which I’m sure I heard someone holler ‘yee-ha!’ at least once. The more interesting aspect is though is the lyrics. A lot of the songs here are on the face of it quite sad and centre around a theme of loss (til the moment I saw you in your bridal gown/i just assumed you would always be around – Bridal Gown) but there’s also a feeling of hope, that it’ll be alright in the end, as displayed in the closing lines of Departure; ‘the death of love/it’s not a thing to be afraid of/it’s just a light switching out’. Mt Desolation is a remarkably strong album but the accolade for best track goes to the lovely duet ‘Another Night On My Side’ featuring the vocals of Jesse Quin and Jessica Stavely-Taylor. Splendid. 4/5
Mark Cousens
Out now on Island Records
Buy Mt. Desolation from hmv
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