Available via the obscure but wonderfully exciting label Nefarious Industries, Mount Gomery’s EP, ‘In Series’ is the delightfully eclectic work of Ryan Hare who, alongside a gaggle of friends, crafted the five tracks on offer here, playing piano, guitar and handling all vocal duties himself. With a wonderful, warm sound, a great sense of invention and beguiling cover art (courtesy of Michelle Silver) ‘In series’ is as warm and inviting as a freshly run bath, and covers a great deal of musical territory over the course of its svelte twenty-eight minute run time.
The EP opens with ‘floods’, a beautiful, rather sweet track that recalls Elliot Smith with its laid back tempo, gorgeous harmonies (that’ll be the multi-talented Michelle Smith once again), subtle guitar and folk-influenced lyricism. It’s a mesmerising opening, and one that wrong-foots you as it leads into the psychedelic guitar storms of ‘Antlers on the wall’, an echoing post-rock track that spins subtle webs around the listener with chiming guitars and thunderous percussion that adds atmosphere and depth via rolling atmospherics, rather than a straight-forward beat. Where the first track taps into the singer-songwriter spirit of Eliot Smith and James Blackshaw, ‘antlers on the wall’ pulls in the twisted invention of Tool and couples it with the sparse atmospherics of Red Sparrowes for a track that is as hypnotic as it is unsettling. Throwing up another wild contrast, ‘sandlots’ is another stripped down track that showcases Ryan’s ability to captivate the listener with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and his warm, rich voice – a skill far rarer than you may believe.
The percussion returns for ‘Episode IV’ (once again handled by Dan Romans), a well-executed piece of tension-building alt rock that recalls Bee and Flower with its trumpet and French horn augmentation, and which spends its time building to a climax that burns and tears its way into your soul as heavy guitars and tortured screams coalesce at the fiery heart of the track. The EP finishes with the mellifluous ‘invest’ which uses stripped down percussion (Zach Lipkins) to add to the haunting melody of the guitar and twisted metaphor of the intelligently written lyrics. Musically the track falls somewhere between Mogwai, Radiohead and Elliot Smith and it proves a fine conclusion to an EP of dizzying contradictions.
An ambitious, lyrically heavy piece of work, Mount Gomery are not a band to slip on in the background – the music is too layered for that and it will draw you in no matter what you are attempting to do whilst listening. Beautifully played, not a note is out of place and the songs are lengthy without overstaying their welcome, each one constructed down to the smallest detail so that each section, each note, offers maximum effect. Emotional, beautiful and occasionally overwhelmed with passion, the songs on ‘in series’ ebb and flow across the EP, gently rippling through the speakers one moment, building to a tortured climax the next; there is variety, power and precision here and it will offer much to those who wish to experience its charms.
If you’d like to know more, you can listen here via soundcloud or head here to find order details and the other amazing acts on Nefarious Industries’ roster.
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