MOUNTAINEERS are three Welsh lads - Alex Germains, Ceri James and Tomas Kelar - who have relocated to Liverpool, dragging all manner of computer-generated lo-fi weirdness in the bulging sacks on their backs.
This self-titled 6-track mini-LP/ EP (delete as applicable) again presents a similar lo-fi approach to their debut EP from late 2002, and - after hearing these varied and often far out tunes - you'll be gobsmaked to discover that they recorded them mostly with the help of just an old PC, a mini-disc microphone and a couple of software programs. Ain't technology grand, eh?
Yeah, but only when allied to great ideas, and "Mountaineers" is also a triumph of the imagination. Opening track "Self-Catering" is probably the best thing here, with freshly-scrubbed acoustic guitar (a la "Space Oddity") vying with loops and synths. It's quirky, but engaging, with tinges of both Beck and Super Furry Animals.
The other five songs are a little less obviously linear (term used hesitantly), but are rarely less than striking. "Clap In Time", for instance, opens with a drone-y orchestral wash before eventually bursting into another looped, breakbeat affair, while "Chicken" is a more urgent effort: an absurdist essay aligned to a semi-acoustic punk backdrop.
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Confused? Yeah, you will be, because MOUNTAINEERS are also capable of things like "Radio Cat", which is reminiscent of earlier Air in its' fluffy'n'floaty disco atmosphere, plus a vocodered vocal to ram the point home; or "Camped Out" where they introduce Moog-y psychedelic elements and sinister overtones not dissimilar to Radiohead circa "Amnesiac", a comparison hardly dispelled by the track's later introduction of dark, rippling piano.
"Mountaineers", then, successfully marries technology with that old DIY anything-goes punk attitude, and comes up reeking of, well..if not roses, then some other exotic bloom or other. It shows a refeshing diversity and the ability not to completely abandon pop, despite the experimentation.
Just the way we like it, really.
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