Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Caught between the darkness of space and the fathomless depths of the ocean, we might consider the plainness of the land to be our faithful companion in life, but it is with a certain relish that we see the natural uplift of that horizon, one that brings us closer to the heavens without fearing the wrath of other’s gods and keeps us out of direct danger should the sea overwhelm the ground we walk on that will lead us to declare with a kind of poetic emotion that The Mountains Are My Friends.
There is always a degree of safety locked away in those imposing Earth struck features, the foothills just underneath black hole skies and blazing sun foundations, all offer shelter and the opportunity to see far beyond that which the plains offer the solitary traveller, and one to whom the entire collective of California Irish embrace with adulation and fierce pride as they unleash their new album to an audience ready to be shown the cool niche that sits betwixt Americana and the world of Folk.
Inspired by the serenity, almost mystical balance revealed by being the hangout for the likes of The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, and the vibrant counterculture of the 1960s that inhabited the famous Laural Canyon, the presence of the collective, Cormac Neeson, Susy Coyle, Donal Scullion, Chris Kelly, James Doone, Simon Templeton, and Conor McCauley take the listener on a magical journey that beguiles the mind and lures the ever beating heart into the world of heady exploration, of encountering the landscape and seeing majesty rise up through the midst and the observation of elevation at its most grandest.
The Mountains Are My Friends is the culmination and the extended story of the one-off project given extraordinary life; from coming together as a true Belfast gathering to showcase their interpretation of Neil Young’s celebrated Harvest Moon and Harvest albums to the bond of mesmerising unique and mesmerising music, the seven piece, led by the industrious Cormac Neeson, have arguably relished the opportunity to lay down something just as special for the public, just as enticing as what they had originally joined up to explore, but with a certain amount of captive charm that bides its time and then speaks volumes just as sure as mountains are there to be conquered.
Across tracks such as the opener Live Fast Die Free, Julie Ann, Something Different, the enticing Sunday Morning, and the finale of I Am Free, California Irish rampage and stoke the fires of the mountain to a point where what is witness is more than a message of intent, it is a blazing beacon set against the harmony of wilful beauty.
A generous and fantastically paced recording, each player doing their bit to combine a sound of majestic property and intellect.
California Irish release The Mountains Are My Friends on June 27th via 7hz Productions.
Ian D. Hall