A Grave With No Name
Mountain Debris - LEFSE
FILTER Grade: 75%

This debut from London-based lo-fi noisemakers starts with panache; “The Sun Rises” pulls together sea sounds, cymbals and guitar distortion that swells as distant vocals cry in a Slowdive meets Mew meets Pullman mix of effervescence and picked rhythmic steadiness. Then the music starts to unravel wonderfully, the rhythms loosen and the guitars grow in “And We Parted Ways at Mt. Jade.” The next track, “Sofia,” feels like MGMT getting together with the Rolling Stones, taking lots of soporific drugs and trying to write a new “Miss You.” After this brief trilogy of intrigue, it gets silly and never recovers: “Open Waters” repeats a series of “I love you” vocal mantras and plodding guitar thuds, whereas “Lavender” is overt MBV acoustic homage. The dynamics, ideas and energy fly away and Mountain Debris becomes a standard lo-fi album, which is a shame.