The Breeders
Mountain Battles (4AD)
ESSENTIAL "Overglazed"
Among the Breeders' charms, cohesion has never been high on the list. Each song is a little universe that bears no relation to what comes before or after. The music gets made when it gets made. Only three albums have seen the light of day in 20 years - to be fair, Kim Deal is in the Pixies; her twin Kelley did time in rehab; and both formed other bands. Today the Breeders notch it up to four with the release of "Mountain Battles."
Alt-rock guru Steve Albini is back at the helm and once again proves the ideal midwife for the Breeders' fiercely independent vision. If there's one surprise here, it's how much of the disc is laid-back, to the point of torpid. The amped-up opener, "Overglazed," comes barreling out of the speakers like a lost Who track, but it's the exception in a collection that's heavier on gauze than guitars.
The album is loaded with cryptic meditations: sinuous "Night of Joy," the woozy waltz "We're Gonna Rise," and dissonant, dreamy "Spark." "Istanbul" is a minimalist dirge built around Jose Medeles's clacking sticks and Mando Lopez's thumping bass - with jarring pep cheers from the girls. Most songs never hit the three-minute mark, making them feel a bit like elaborate doodles than fully realized songs.
It isn't until track eight that the Breeders dig into something sweet and scrappy in "Walk It Off." But "Mountain Battles" is just the kind of odd, mysterious meander we've come to expect from the Deal sisters, whose comfort zone has expanded to include sentimental mariachi ("Regalame Esta Noche"), an Appalachian lullabye ("Here No More"), and foreign-language punk ("German Studies"). [Joan Anderman]
