Shortly earlier than Judee Sill died prematurely in her LA residence in 1979, she left an entry in a journal. Forty-five years later, that journal was entrusted by Sill’s property to Buck Meek after he appeared in a documentary concerning the singer. He turned this set of unfinished lyrics devoted to Sill’s boyfriend and his daughter into “The Rainbow”, the ultimate music on his third solo album. Lyrically, “The Rainbow” is a slender affair, a sequence of summary, rhetorical questions that Meek grafts to a candy, Sill-like folks setting. However the mission reveals the extent of belief now afforded to Meek as a songwriter and interpreter because of his work with Massive Thief as sympathetic collaborator to Adrienne Lenker. Meek clearly enjoys writing partnerships, and within the absence of Lenker he activates Haunted Mountain to Jolie Holland, who co-writes 5 of the 11 songs, together with the album’s three stand-outs – the title monitor, “Paradise” and “Lullabies”.

Though Haunted Mountain was recorded by a lot the identical personnel as Meek’s earlier solo album, 2021’s Two Saviors, it’s a really totally different file. That one was recorded in a home in New Orleans in every week, a fast and lo-fi method that suited songs about loss and heartbreak. Haunted Mountain is basically about love of assorted varieties, and Meek and producer Mat Davidson (The Low Anthem/Twain) took the band to Sonic Ranch in Texas and gave the file a way more expansive, full-sounding presentation, a convincing and assured tone that matches these optimistic and infrequently unfiltered feelings.

The one factor undercutting that’s Meek’s voice, which, with putting nominative determinism, is faltering and a bit hesitant, with a high-pitched nation edge that recollects Slim Whitman through Hank Williams. On songs just like the Neil Younger-inspired “Cyclades” – with rollicking chorus “too many tales to recollect”, this provides an intriguing edge, as if Meek isn’t fully positive about what he’s singing, missing confidence not a lot within the sentiment however extra in himself for expressing it. On “Paradise”, he delivers a good looking music fully concerning the magic of trying in a lover’s eyes; the vocal catch accentuates the temper, that of any individual overcome by the maintain one other particular person has over them. “The place You’re Coming From” sees Meek sing of a friendship which holds no doubts, the crunching guitar offering the underlying be aware of confidence and happiness. An identical theme is roofed on the glowing “Didn’t Know You Then”, about falling in love, no ifs, no buts, no caveats – “I knew the second that I noticed you/That my life would by no means be the identical”. There may be a lot magnificence within the simplicity and unfettered honesty of those statements of affection.

Meek additionally explores Massive Thief-style territory of larger ambiguity. The opening music, “Temper Ring”, is filled with handled results, delays and echoes that look like designed to unsettle, whereas nation lament “Lagrimas” (Spanish for ‘tears’) is a couple of mysterious necromancer who sends a message to the lifeless on the wings of a fowl. On “Secret Aspect”, he admits “I’ll by no means know the key facet of you”, whereas the Flaming Lips-style “Undae Dunes” boasts a barely off-kilter, wild guitar and common sense of psychedelia that very a lot fits an enjoyably bizarre music about, possibly, house.

The 2 songs that actually stick within the mind are “Haunted Mountain” and “Lullabies”. The primary was largely written by Holland then completed by Meek, a music concerning the majestic enchantment of nature and place with a touch of dying. It’s set to a melody that rolls and yearns, with some beautiful pedal metal by Davidson, and is as near anthemic as Buck Meek is prone to get, recalling artists resembling Phosphorescent or Jason Isbell. “Lullabies” is a superb monitor concerning the bond between mom and daughter. It’s superbly noticed by Meek, who writes with subtlety and sensitivity about childbirth – a topic many males would actively keep away from, or not even contemplate price exploring. On this case, Meek used Holland as extra of a sounding board, and he or she added some color however in any other case gave it the seal of female approval. It’s, like a lot of Haunted Mountain, audacious in an understated means. Meek however not gentle.