Speck Mountain - 'Summer Above' (Peacefrog) Released 07/04/08

Appropriately hailing from what is commonly known as the ‘Windy City’, Speck Mountain are a three-piece who offer blustery pop ballads and chiming introspection on their debut LP ‘Summer Above’.

Singer Marie-Claire Balabanian immediately sounds like Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins if she enjoyed solitary walks in parks during autumn as opposed to super strength skunk weed. The shimmering pop landscapes on display could never be described as otherworldly by any stretch of the imagination but neither are they pedestrian. They exist in some kind of musical purgatory, not conjuring up visions of heaven or hell and moving entirely at their own pace. These songs would perhaps make perfect sense sipping herbal tea under the moonlight at the Green Man festival but on record? We’re not sure that they work, frankly.

From the blissed-out space rock introduction of ‘Summer Above’ right through to the spacious guitar lines and gentle brass augmentation of the closing ‘Blood is Clean’ we are definitely taken on a stroll through some accomplished musical terrain but you may feel the urge on several occasions to break out into a sprint and try and catch up with something a bit more exciting. Is that the punk rock marathon up ahead? Just play a Stooges or Velvets album after this and witness it sounding more positively filthy, illicit and utterly vital than ever before.    

‘Summer Above’ has redeeming features, of course. ‘Midnight Sun’ has some enjoyable psychedelic pop harmonies and a hypnotic guitar motif whilst ‘Fjord song’ has a haunting, deeply reflective quality and fragility that recalls Julee Cruise singing the theme tune to ‘Twin Peaks’. This can only be a good thing.         

Alas, it is not enough. Speck Mountain continually attempt to walk in the footsteps of Mazzy Star and Natalie Merchant but somehow misplace the sense of urgency, mystique and personality that characterises such artists. It is the kind of record that High Fidelity style collectors will probably claim to be a ‘Favourite of 2008’ simply because no-one else is really aware of it but bring the qualities of the album sharply into focus and it ultimately reveals no great insights or originality. Fans of Iron and Wine and other sedate musical explorers need apply, everyone else may just fall asleep before the end of the first verse.