Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 07/04/08
Label: 4AD

For a woman who spent the last six years battling drug problems, Frank Black and family tragedy, Kim Deal sounds remarkably relaxed on "Mountain Battles", The Breeders' fourth record in 20 years. It may open with the surging guitars and vocal ecstasy of "Superglazed", suggesting a possible return to the juggernaut pop of "Last Splash", but that's a red herring. The rest of the album yawns, stretches, scratches and unwinds with characteristic and delicious laziness.

So second song "Bang On" is built from little more than a shuffling, two step drumbeat, the barest scrapes of guitar and a punky shared vocal by the Deal twins, and is much more enjoyable than that sounds. Though their voices are at their intoxicating, languid best on "Night Of Joy", with its sleepy bass and gorgeous lightness of touch. Producer Steve Albini, an occasional genius, can be credited with the low-key intimacy of this sound, but the warmth comes from the Deals' melodies and tender, askew songwriting. These culminate in the single "We're Gonna Rise", with its gently ascending guitars and the kind of harmonies you want to climb inside like a soft bed.

There are moments when "Mountain Battles" rouses itself out of its dreamy slumber. Deal has denied that "Walk It Off" was written about the recent stormy Pixies reunion, but its lunging guitars and snarling bass are the closest she comes here to their sound, and whiplash lyrics like "Let's not work it out" and "The singer gets laid and the drummer gets paid" suggest she may be skimping on the truth a little. "No Way", on the other hand, is all snare, sneer and snarl, a brief indulgence of Deal's inner Ozzy Osbourne, though it's the closing title track that is most unsettling, anchored by an ominous humming amp and stumbling, disconnected words.

But for the most part "Mountain Battles" is a seductive lesson in understatement and please-yourself playfulness. Very occasionally that understatement lapses towards underwritten (on the murky "Spark", in particular) but far more often the results are little joys like the sweet campfire strum of "Here No More" or the utterly charming "Regaleme Esta Noche", a Spanish bolero sung with gusto by Kelley.

The Pixies may have had the greater impact on music in their brief pomp, but it's The Breeders who are proving to be the more rewarding over time. Like their three previous records, "Mountain Battles" is a record to return to again and again, like an old and dear friend who can still somehow surprise you.

    by Jaime Gill