Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains – S/T

Have you ever wandered what it would sound like if The Killers decided to cover The Thermals? What about if they were covering The Thermals doing a cover version of Andrew WK? Well, thats what the headlong rush of ‘Love Can Be So Mean’, the opening salvo of Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains self titled debut sounds like. All octave solos, shimmering cymbals, stomping, propulsive, Status Quo rhythms and a literal lift of the ending of ‘Party Hard’. It’s a trend that continues throughout the opening of the record; the combination of flailing drums, piano stabs and chugging bass and guitar lines, mixed in with a clear love of synth pop.Grainger plays most of the instruments here, busying himself since the 2006 split of Death From Above 1979. It’s all very pleasant; muscular slick power pop with hooks and synths yet somehow lacking in the visceral nature of his previous outfit. Tracks like ‘By Cover Of Night (Fire Fight)’, with its guitar stabs and synth lines could be a close relative of ‘All These Thing’s That I Have Done’, Grainger’s delivery scarily similar to Brandon Flower’s stadium fillers. The decision to include a live version of ‘I’m All Rage’ seems frankly bizarre- there’s nothing to particularly differentiate it from any of the other songs on the record structurally, but the bad quality of the recording, bass and reverb heavy make it stick out like a sore thumb, the sub-Pharell soul adlibing at the end doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense either. It’s the kind of effort that sometimes gets tacked on as a ‘secret track’, yet placed at the centre of a record. ‘I Hate My Friends’ follows, with it’s glam chug mutating into a histrionic ending. It sounds like it could be used in a ‘naughties’ remake of the ill fated Saved By The Bell movie, or some other high school prom scene. The same could be said of much that follows. The likes of ‘Are There Ways To Come Home’ and ‘Love Is Not A Contest’ provide a change of pace, but add little to the record, merely highlighting the fact that Grainger at his best when things seem a little out of control and simple (as he proves with some magnificent yowling on the fuzzed up charge of ‘Niagra’). As for the risible synth-pop afterthought of closer 'Renegade Silence', the least said the better.After the strong opening trio things go swiftly downhill, with the various styles grating alongside each other (there’s some serious 70’s guitar solos in the mix here at times too). Where there was always something aggressive and edgy behind Death From Above 1979’s output, there is none of that urgency on display here. On the basis of this bland effort, it seems it could be a while before Grainger rediscovers that spark. 48%Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains on MySpace