‘In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain’ is American indie folk band Blind Pilot’s first album in eight years.
Travelling to Scandinavia to reconnect with his family’s roots in the nomadic Sámi community, a drum ceremony led singer and guitarist Israel Nebeker to visions of his ancestors, and to the mountain where his creative rebirth began. From there, his return to songwriting was solidified when he and Blind Pilot co-founder Ryan Dobrowski were invited to perform in Mexico City by a humanitarian group helping migrants in the country. After speaking with them for hours, “I got the idea to write a song that looks at ideas of ownership and othering, and what it does when we tell people, ‘This is our home, not yours.'” After years of not writing so much as a single verse, ‘In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain’ flowed out of him in one month.
We are led into the album with the gentle `Jacaranda` a number that appears to almost dwell on growing up and possibly reflecting on the folly of youth. The Jacaranda tree is a symbol of beauty, resilience, and renewal which really sums up this tender opening. We enjoy in `Brave` a faster paced rhythmic offering, a number that arose after the band was invited to play at a conference for a humanitarian group focused on support for migrants from Central America.
`Pocket Knife` is banjo led with a warm accompanying bass line and vocals that express a kind of vulnerability and uncertainty. A number that seems to be about ancestry and that bloodline that is handed down the generations. I loved the vocal interplay between Kati Claborn and Israel Nebeker on `Don’t You Know` a track that had a kind of shimmer about it.
`Just A Bird` has a rhythmic pulsing heartbeat and again some delightful vocal interplay and feels as if you`ve intruded on a private conversation between two lovers. There`s a more introspective ballad like composition in `Coming Back` which is stripped back with piano and vocals with a haunting clarinet like tone joining before the rest of the band connect and flesh the number out.
A soothing drumbeat leads us into `Faces of Light` a number that veers between a calmness and a more tense tone which seems to relate to an observation on somebody close who you consider is at heart, lonely. I found the rhythm and tempo to `One Drop` really enticing. A number that really drew me into its depths.
`Lucky` is a fairly deep slow burn track with some aching clarinet tones, a brushed drum beat and again some exposed vocal interaction which gives it an almost heartbreaking appeal. The introspective `Bitter Water` has a delightfully simple dreamlike melodic texture that kind of envelopes you and certainly had me drifting off into thoughts of my own.
`Same Thing` closes out this release and leaves us with an upbeat sense of hope.
I have to say that I found ‘In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain’ quite overwhelming at times and i`m sure that I’ll discover more each time I return to it. It`s a pretty powerful listen which is at times reflective, introspective, and thought provoking.
An album that`s pretty hard to define or describe but will become much more transparent after you`ve allowed it time to seep into your soul.
Rating 8.5/10
