Album Review: Moses Gunn Collective – Mercy Mountain
2 min read
If you like your psychedelic rock dusted in glitter and radiating out in kaleidoscopic waves of sound and colour, Moses Gunn Collective’s Mercy Mountain could well be your new favourite album. The debut LP release from the Brisbane five piece is a delicious smorgasbord of psychedelia, indie rock, jangly pop and glittering glam rock.
Already a favourite amongst music bloggers and radio, the band are set to launch firmly, and deservedly, into a larger sphere with the release of Mercy Mountain. Though poised on the brink and serious in their intent, part of the beauty of Moses Gunn Collective is the playful exuberance underpinning everything they do. Listening to Mercy Mountain, there is an almost tangible sense of the band luxuriating in their creation; greedily gathering influences and instrumentation, but coupled with a strict discipline that keeps it punchy and cohesive.
Racing into it with jammed-out intro Strawberry, complete with Surfaris style vox pops, kicking off with an unbounded enthusiasm that runs throughout the album. Title track Mercy Mountain is a storming opener, full of T-Rex swagger, hand claps and sing-along salvation. A number of really strong tracks shine through as the album progresses; Desdemona has a sun-drenched, anthemic feel, and single release Hot Mess is sharp with stripped back, clipped sounds that launch into big choruses. The previously released favourite Shalala finds a place but almost sounds more brooding when settled amongst newer material. Back Into The Womb is maybe where Moses Gunn Collective give themselves most license with funk-tinged, hypnotic riffs, off-the-wall lyrics and a glorious falsetto. Also a soaring key change that is pure euphoria.
All out tracks are tempered with lower moments in Sleepwalking, and the psyched-out interlude Mulberry which builds to a spiralling swell of sound. The whole album is wrapped up with the lament-like Neighbourhood, a last farewell and good night from the band as the party dies down, the show’s over.
