Carcrashlander - Mountains on Our Backs [Album]

Jealous Butcher

Mountains on Our Backs is the debut album from Portland’s Carcrashlander, a project of Cory Gray, who has previously played with bands such as Desert City Soundtrack, Norfolk & Western, The Decemberists and The Dodos. Given the platform to make his own voice, Gray produces an album equally as interesting as anything the aforementioned bands have produced to date. There are echoes of Mark Lanegan and The Black Heart Procession throughout but Gray’s suppressed, almost whispered vocals are unmistakably his own – nobody else’s style, just his own substance.

Mountains on Our Backs captures the sound of the quiet before a storm, one that is often brewing but never boils over. “Capillary Webs” and “Coast to Coast” are as turbulent as things ever really get, but in truth they are storms that rarely leave the teacup. The album’s restraint is to both Gray’s credit and detriment. Whilst there are many occasions where it would have been all too easy for a more impetuous artist to lead many of the tracks towards unnecessary bluster and bombast, the abstinence shown means that it’s not an easy album by any means, it demands as much patience as it demonstrates.

Enduring Mountains on Our Backs will result in reward though and this is demonstrated perfectly within the opening title track. The rather sluggish opening eventually leads to a fantastic de-tuning guitar solo that demonstrates that guitar solos can be interesting when produced by the right hands, and more importantly minds. In this case, it makes the song. Sadly Mountains on Our Backs ends on its one sour note; the one moment when it fails to give out what the listener puts in. “Warm Behind the Walls” is as arduous as melancholy ever gets, almost undoing all the hard work that was put in up to that point. Casting your mind back a little further though, there is much that is worth taking with you, and if Cray can take the same with him to his future projects, he’ll have even more to offer in the future.

Track List:
1. Mountains on Our Backs
2. Dollar Store Halo
3. Capillary Webs
4. Killingsworth Frost
5. Quoting Dead Comedians
6. Driveway
7. Coast to Coast
8. Bone Noose
9. Warm Behind the Walls