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Sound Advice: A Mountain Is A Mouth by Bruce Peninsula
Every Tuesday, Torontoist scours record store shelves in search of the city’s most notable new releases and brings you the best—or sometimes just the biggest—of what we’ve heard in Sound Advice.
Bruce Peninsula knows how to keep a city of music fans waiting.
Forming the core of the group in 2006, beginning recording for their full-length in summer 2007, and releasing only a 7″ of traditional songs in July 2008, any of the band’s spare time throughout was spent honing their gigantic live show on comparably tiny stages to much acclaim, setting the expectations for the in-the-works album intimidatingly high. Recorded in churches, schools, garages, and—get this—actual studios, A Mountain Is A Mouth makes its physical debut today, after it was prematurely released digitally by the also-antsy band in December.
From its twelve-member roster (and a handful of cameos), A Mountain Is A Mouth bleeds big songs in minor keys. The vocal amalgamation of Bruce Peninsula‘s trademark all-female choir (Misha Bower, Katie Stelmanis, Kari Peddle, now-former member Isla Craig, and local darlings Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija, plus others, on occasion) is the true focus; avoiding potentially dangerous novelty territory, the resonant voices respond to frontman Neil Haverty’s gravelly calls, shouting their restlessness (“Satisfied”), affirming their principles (“Crabapples”), and overall creating a pomp and clatter made to fill big, empty spaces. Finding their inspiration in traditional American music, the instrumentally sparse gospel/folk/blues arrangements are contemporized by jerky post-punk guitars and anchored by the kite-string percussion of Steve McKay, Maya Postepski, and Leon Taheny (who doubles as producer and moonlights as a Mountain with Sebastian Grainger), giving the choral voices all the room they need to soar and reeling them back in when it’s time to come down.
The valleys don’t quite live up to the peaks, but even the tracks that aren’t obviously as huge find their depth; on “Weave Myself A Dress,” group co-founder Bower is a singular voice, but even in the initial quiet wavering, she sounds strong. By the end of the track her choir chimes in, taking the song and the album to new, pretty, optimistic reaches. Even in its darkest, most haunting moments, A Mountain Is A Mouth stirs something very uplifting inside; singing from the soul, hoping to reach part of yours. Toronto’s multi-member collective club may not have much room left in it, but Bruce Peninsula are just fine doing things on their (collective) own.
The band was revered first for their spectacle of a live show, so make a point of seeing Bruce Peninsula perform in-store at Soundscapes (572 College Street) tomorrow, February 4, at 6 p.m., or at their CD release show on February 22 at the Polish Combatants Hall (206 Beverley Street). A Mountain Is A Mouth can be purchased in digital and CD formats through Zunior.