Buck Meek – Haunted Mountain
Big Thief, one of the best and most adept bands of the 21st
century, has done more in six short years than most bands can squeeze out of an
entire catalog. Each of their five studio albums has managed to expand their
signature homespun charm into exciting, self-contained albums. The sound always
moves forward but with distinct detours projecting their country-folk and
singer-songwriter tendencies over disparate palates. The band’s prolificity
extends to their solo catalog as well, the most notable inclusions naturally coming
from lead singer and principal songwriter Adrianne Lenker. But behind her eclipsing
generational talent, is guitarist Buck Meek, an artist who could easily shepherd
his own headlining band if he needed to.
Aside from some early, Big Thief-adjacent work, Meek’s true
breakout was with 2021’s Two Saviors, a beautiful, alt-country
collection of songs, most of which approached the quality, if not the scale of
his mother band’s releases. Its follow-up, Haunted Mountain, retains
the twang and eccentricities from his preceding output while pushing towards a more
spacious, but still country-influenced sound. One of the album’s standouts for
example, “Didn’t Know You Then”, incorporates the classic steel guitar you
would expect from Meek, but with layered backing vocals and twinkling piano keys
that elevate the buoyant love song into genuine greatness.
The track also serves as the crux of the album’s overtly positive
outlook. Although so many of the songs collected here are old-fashioned love
songs, the focus of the album is tied more to Meek’s joie de vivre, and the way
that love can elicit itself throughout the world when it’s appreciated and
receptive to a person’s outlook.
Many of the album’s songs were written by Meek in the presence of, or with the memory of different mountain ranges. Whether it be the Serra da
Estrela, the Cyclades, Valle Onsernone, or the Santa Monica mountains, his travels
and observance of the beauty of nature provided a respective response
throughout the album. Mount Shasta even serves as a plot point for “Cyclades”
and “Haunted Mountain” the latter of which, was co-written with Jolie Holand, who
plans on releasing her own version later this year.
At times the album’s awe-inspired evocation of devotion
wobbles, as with the song “Lullabies”. Its slightly contrived translation of a
mother/son relationship is beautifully honest but inevitably feels like a
songwriting exercise, shoehorned in between more spontaneous and genuine tributes
to love. Still, the album ends with a clear demonstration of reverence with another
collaboration. “The Rainbow” features lyrics penned by the late Judee Sill, one
of the great unsung singer-songwriters of the early seventies. In it, Meek provides
backing to lyrics from Sill’s unearthed journal, creating a conduit between the
artists and their mutual admiration for the world around them. It’s a short,
sweet moment that encapsulates the album’s position as a thoughtful respite in a
cynical, resentful world.
~7.5
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