This album could well be the most ambitious work of Everything Everything to date, in a career that adds up to a not inconsiderable number of seven studio albums, since the British debuted in 2010 with “Man Alive” (Geffen, 10). The group takes advantage of their arty pose (and a settled position) to build an album with their usual ways, in which they aim to reflect openly (and with some irony) about the current state of society, in an x-ray that results, at the very least, disturbing.
Respecting the spirited aspect of their songs and guided by Jonathan Higgs’ falsetto, “Mountainhead” (24) is put together based on a total of fourteen pieces of indie-pop, new wave and synth-pop, almost always danceable and synthetic, it can be assumed that to joyfully overcome that existential restlessness that accompanies the work. It is the main novelty presented by a band that, at the same time, resonates noticeably more mature and established, without abandoning its classic parameters, but handling them with less effusiveness. Or what is the same, with greater care and limiting that trademark hedonism.
A movement as slight as it is actually decisive when defining the generic profile of the work in question. A flattering aspect that distances and differentiates those from Manchester (even slightly) from their previous artistic stretch, giving this new set of songs an unprecedented credibility. This does not happen with each and every one of the invoiced compositions, although it does with notable ones of the type of “The Mad Stone”, “Cold Reactor”, “Don’t Ask Me To Beg”, “R U Happy?”, “The End of the Contender” o “Wild Guess”.
“Mountainhead” is, indeed, one of the best releases by the British, on par with other notable titles such as the aforementioned “Man Alive” (Geffen, 10) o “Get To Heaven” (RCA, 15). Only the same ambition – the one that has led them to include the excessive number of fourteen pieces – takes away some of the grip of the LP, missing a round ensemble and, therefore, an effectiveness that would have been completely decisive in preventing the effect is somewhat diluted as the minutes pass.
Mountainhead – Digital Download de Everything Everything