Mountains

Juxtaposing undulating swathes of synthetic drone with deft strokes of organic instrumentation, Mountains men Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp create songs that are as intimate as they are majestic. The union of the unknown and the familiar will always be engaging — everyone enjoys a fright when they're curled up on their couch. Anderegg and Holtkamp use this to their advantage, placing field recordings and opaque textures beside gorgeous guitar melodies. Dramatic yet delicate, each of the six tracks that comprise Choral hides tiny surprises that are revealed with repeated listening. When a strummed guitar vanishes into a wall of foggy static, or a melody materializes from within a roiling maelstrom of sound, the impetus for further investigation is felt. This unyielding charm is what makes Choral outshine other drone records.