Mining Co - Mountain Fires

by Malcolm Carter

published: 23 / 12 / 2017

Label: Mining Co
Format: CD

Atmospheric and melancholic country-hued Americana on sophomore album from London-based the Mining Co.

Review

While 'Mountain Fires' is the second album from the Mining Co., the debut 2016’s ‘Burning Sun and the Atomic Powers Within’ passed this reviewer by. Although some of the dozen songs on ‘Mountain Fires’ feature a full-band, it appears that the Mining Co. is more of a one-man band in the form of Michael Gallagher. Paco Loco produced the album in Spain, the same studio and producer as the debut and all the songs were written by Michael Gallagher. Gallagher’s deep, almost world-weary voice is the first thing that hits newcomers. The opening song ‘Julie’s Song’ is a sparse acoustic ballad in which Gallagher’s pleading vocals immediately grab the listener's attention. It sounds like the singer is pouring every part of himself into every single word and the production is such that it feels like Gallagher is there in the room singing to you. If the following eleven tracks were all in the same stripped-back fashion it would have been no bad thing. But as soon as the second song, ‘Closer’, start with the drums up-front and keyboards expanding on the sound, it’s apparent that Gallagher isn’t going to present us with a dozen variations of the same song. Although his dark vocals edge close to being spoken rather than sung on this track, he suddenly reaches and hits high notes for a few seconds and it sounds so natural; it’s little nuances like this which keep the listener's interest throughout the album and which make Gallagher just that little bit different from the rest. The title track introduces strings for the first time on the album. There’s a country feel about the song, and it’s here that despite mentions for Nick Cave and Tom Waits on the PR release sheet we start to hear who has really influenced Michael Gallagher. Try to imagine Glen Campbell fronting the Handsome Family or even a conglomerate of said Family and Lambchop and why does Morrissey spring readily to mind whenever this song plays? This song leads into ‘Against the Grain’ which features an unnamed female vocalist. Again there’s a lovely country lilt to the song and those duets that Lee Hazlewood used to produce with any of his female co-singers comes to mind. Gallagher has a winning way with a melody, and like Hazlewood the addition of a sweet female voice against his dark tones brings out the best in his songs. This is an absolute killer of a song and a highlight on the album. It’s track five, ‘Safest Way’ that really surprises though. Those dark-brown vocals suddenly give way to Gallagher’s falsetto for the first verse, a sound that we’d only heard a snatch of previously. He drops back to his usual deep tones for some of the song, alternating between the two styles to brilliant effect. Again there’s back-up from an unnamed female singer; it’s a shame this singer isn’t given any type of credit on the as she adds so much texture to the songs she sings on especially given Gallagher’s distinctive tones. ‘Missing Part’ is another gorgeous cut; the strings filling out the song along with subtly used brass, highlighting Gallagher’s knack of writing not only memorable melodies but also choruses that rattle around in your head for days. ‘Weight in Gold’ starts like a Crazy Horse track; again Gallagher’s vocals dart between dark and light and on a track such as this that displays the darker side of his music it works magnificently. While this song isn’t one of the most immediate on ‘Mountain Fires’, it’s one of the most satisfying. The only complaint is even at almost four minutes the song ends far too soon. Gallagher covers a lot of ground here. With such a distinctive voice and obviously not afraid to show his love of alt-country and Americana, it would not have been surprising if, over the course of twelve songs, the album would have been too monotonous but there is so much to discover and enjoy on ‘Mountain Fires’; a lot of this is down to the fact that Gallagher knows how to construct a song for there’s not a dud in sight on this album. Really the only criticism to be made is the lack of information on the sleeve but that, of course, doesn’t take away any of the beauty of the music contained therein. But that female voice really should have been given some credit as her contribution really makes the album extra special

Track Listing:-

1 Julie's Song
2 Closer
3 Mountain Fires
4 Against the Grain
5 Safest Way
6 Missing Part
7 Valentine to Write
8 Weight in Gold
9 Good Intentions
10 Righteous Spirit
11 Laws of Attraction
12 Damned by Your Wings