Dryvetyme Onlyne

Carcrashlander
Mountains On Our Backs
Jealous Butcher; 2009

Guest Contributor: Marc Brubaker

Portland, Oregon’s Carcrashlander wears its influences on its sleeves, or perhaps to put it more appropriately, on its shoelaces. Blending dissonant guitars into moody piano riffs laid over some solid percussion, the band is at once part shoegaze, part grunge, part alt-country and part electronic. Mountains On Our Backs is a constantly shifting equilibrium of music, its harsh and soft tones swirling in a complimentary fashion behind Cory Gray’s nearly hush-tone vocals.

The album is probably at its best on some of the shorter numbers, with the constant flux propelled by uptempo drums and a siren-song guitar that dashes upon the rocks of the gentle keywork. However, the slower tracks – two of which fall near the eight-minute mark – are definitely not to be ignored, the meandering tones are at once both stimulating and relaxing. If fellow Portland band A Weather had traveled seven years back in time and had a child with The Wisdom of Harry, Carcrashlander would be the likely result.

Mountains On Our Backs makes for some pretty fantastic rainy day listening, or a soundtrack to a midsummer drive with your friend on country back-roads, or simply as an album to play as you check off that household to-do list. Gray’s vocals and keywork set a moody yet playful tone, seemingly heavy but never morose, and Brian Wright’s drumming provides a perfect compliment, his rhythms lifting the tone when necessary but never overpowering it. Cliff Hayes lays down some simple but effective bass lines to keep things moving along, and guitarist Alexis Gordon tosses in some minimalist riffs that puncture the sound to keep the listener on his toes. Each song exists as a cosmic balance of auditory karma, bringing just enough to the table to leave you wanting more each time. Carcrashlander’s music teases and pleases in a way that is enticing, refreshing, and satisfying without ever being excessive.

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Marc Brubaker is a graduate of Texas A&M University; he currently works as a photographer and curator extraordinaire who occasionally uses his Creative Writing degree. You can find his photography work at Click. Wind. Repeat.