The Breeders - Mountain Battles

Mountain Battles: a title that conjures up visions of the Deal twins rising tectonically from the rubble to slay the young upstarts and naysayers. Well, not quite. Opening track Overglazed ushers in a more wide-eyed rebirth of inner-belief, Kim Deal emerging into the light, cooing "I can feel it," mantra-like to cascading drums and warm, muted guitar fuzz. An auspicious start, and whilst album number four from Cool Kim and co. may feel uneven, sound a tad skeletal, even demo-esque, and is largely lacking the strong grunge pop of their breakthrough Last Splash, repeated listens and a little patience reap rewards. For every Bang On, which promises much but ultimately implodes in on itself with a louche shoulder shrug, there's an Istanbul, with its dead-pan call-and-response charade and spine-tingling ethereal vocals. There's familiar Breeders fare tucked away near the end, but Mountain Battles is the work of a band tentatively exploring new directions. [Darren Carle]