That Big Thief is in an enviable state of shape, with which they do not stop growing, is demonstrated by the two new singles that the band just released just a couple of weeks ago. Well, for that and for this remarkable solo guitar work of his -among other things- Buck Meek.
“Haunted Mountain” It is an album that can be taken as the typical album that a band member makes to give vent and free rein to his personal concerns, but without escaping too much from the stylistic parameters through which he travels with his companions. That is to say, most of the songs would fit on a Big Thief album, except for one thing that is not trivial: They are songs about a person who is happy and feels the need to shout from the rooftops that he is in love and full of life. . And that would still be quite squeaky in the songbook of thieves, more inclined to a certain introspection.
Thus, the third and best solo album by Buck Meek, is based on a vital optimism that permeates the melodies and ends up infecting the listener, to the point that it can be abandoned with delight in songs such as: the cowgirl and splendor “Haunted Mountain” that could fit in the Bright Eyes songbook of Conor Oberts; the effervescent “Cyclades” with that ramshackle Pavement touch that hooks you at first or the delicious “Didn’t Known You Then” that one could imagine in the throat of the Teenage Fanclub.
And it cannot be denied that one of the strengths that this “Haunted Mountain” offers is that, if you close your eyes, it will not cost you anything to go back to a time in which the aforementioned bands roamed freely, along with to others like Sparklehorse, Neutral Milk Hotel, Vic Chesnutt or Elliott Smith. References to which we must add another important key and it is none other than the excellent work of Mat Davinson and his pedal steel that gives a country color to songs like the sweet “Paradise” the trottier “Where You’re Coming From” and that incidentally reminds us of the Texan origin of Buck Meek.
We are therefore faced with one of those albums that are considered minor, due to the fact that they are equipped as satellites of the solid discography of the mother band, but that do not make them any less enjoyable. Quite the opposite.