Almanac Mountain is the ‘avant-pop’ project of Chris Cote, a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in New Hampshire. As the genre label suggests, his songs are large and lush and lathered in strangeness, built of a sense of experimentation that flips out of any convention the moment you recognise it.
While previous releases have focused on personal themes such as commitment and individual connection to the natural world, the new full-length, Cryptoseismology, sees Cote take on some rather more far-reaching themes. Referring to hidden or secret earthquakes, the title hints at these targets, the concealed but powerful forces at work beneath society which may not be immediately apparent yet shape the very world we live in. Indeed, the record is perhaps more cynical and certainly more biting than previous Almanac Mountain releases, serving as a voice for “a generation disillusioned by the false promises, misuse and exploitation of the economic, informational and technological hopes of the 1980s.” Cote, along with with guest guitarists Russ Harland and Andy Klosenski (of Honky Gabacho), utilises all the tools necessary to take on such matters (amongst others, melancholy, irony, paranoia and strangeness), to prove that taking on big, societal issues can lead to fun, important and undeniably odd music.
We’re delighted to host the second single from Cryptoseismology for your listening pleasure. ‘Kids Playing Outside’ is a glittering, synth-heavy hit which sounds like a top-down drive through some neon lit metropolis, though the lyrics open with the polar opposite. “Saturday morning, cartoon time, let’s go,” Cote sings, like some disco king trapped within the shell of a suburban nine-year-old. “Pocket full of quarters and dimes, lets go!” From here the song visits numerous other narrators in different scenarios, though all are struggling for control in a world permeated by entertainment and pop culture and mass media. As Cote explains, the track explores: “how our inherent impulse to maintain ownership of our exterior environments varies in consequence from place to place, generation to generation, race to race.” Stream the track below:
Cryptoseismology is set for release on the 21st October, and you can pre-order it now from the Almanac Mountain Bandcamp page.