Mountain Babies - "Pine Cones & Grindstones" (new video)

Photography by Ryan Nisbett Studios

This ethereal-sounding Americana twang-team from Port Huron are a must-hear. In fact, I wrote about their Existence of Resistance EP in the middle of last summer and expressed how I was drawn to the Mountain Babies' sensibility for manifesting something that can rustles up the soul. It's ambient folk's spacey vibes meets math rock's intricate fretwork; it's country tumblers evoking rural road trips but slathered in post-rock noise experimentation; and its all arranged, recorded, and mixed for optimal balance so as to dazzle your ears and make your head swim...



They demonstrated a capriciousness and a laid back charisma with their playful video for 2016's "Pointe Aux Barques/Dead Man's Walkin" - featuring a psychedelic journey through the woods. Now, with "Pine Cones & Grindstones," they become paper-cut outs on a diorama stage, with impressive edits that literally tear away one layer to reveal campfires, mountains, underwater milieus and a desert oasis, collaging the four players onto each new page and taking them on an adventure--even as they're standing still and playing this tune for you. Then you get to the 95-second mark and they become surfers upon a cresting wave of swelling tones, only to pare back for a minimal denouement that expresses the heart of not just this song, but much of the EP from whence it came....a holding on to hope, even in the face of nuanced darkness. "The sun will be rising....soon."

Mountain Babies' next performance is Saturday, at the annual Porch Fest in Port Austin, MI
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