Let’s get one thing straight: the members of ambient outfit Mountains are not musicians. They are sonic explorers — their press release even says so. When I traverse the world of sound, I tend to stick to established territories, but not Mountains. Those guys go out into the wilderness and end up capturing all manner of sonic waterfalls and forests and such. Later, the group contacts sonic cartographers (who are probably in Emeralds) in order to get proper maps made. This is, roughly, how the process of mapping the sonic landscape works.
During one of their most recent sonic expeditions, Mountains apparently discovered a completely new album all by themselves. The record, which they have dubbed Air Museum, will be available to the general public (who wouldn’t dare explore the far reaches of sound) on May 10 through Thrill Jockey. Unlike previous Mountains records like 2009’s Choral (TMT Review), Air Museum was recorded in a proper studio and does not feature computer-processed instrumentation. The duo have swapped computers for a variety of synths, pedals, and analog techniques. Despite the lack of computing technology involved in the record, Mountains claim that Air Museum is actually their most electronic record yet. This is not something I fully understand, but, hey, I’m no sonic explorer.
Air Museum tracklisting:
01. January 17
02. Thousand Square
03. Newsprint
04. Sequel
05. Blue Lanterns on East Oxford
06. Backwards Crossover
07. Live at the Triple Door
• Mountains: http://www.myspace.com/apestaartjemountains
• Thrill Jockey: vhttp://www.thrilljockey.com