Miracle Temple illustrates a band that is growing and maturing, and as a result the new record sounds more deliberate, more accomplished. It seems that the experience of writing, recording and touring the debut has allowed the band to make a more considered and exploratory record, one that can deal with more complex issues. This fact is best illustrated with Heather McEntire, Mount Moriah’s lead singer and chief songwriter; On Miracle Temple she performs with a confidence that, although not lacking on the debut, was certainly less apparent. This is true in both a technical sense and also in a deeply personal sense. Much of the writing in her earlier songs (particularly Reckoning – which you can hear here on a brilliant session from the folks at HearYa) dealt with her sexuality and her experience of coming out to her Southern Baptist family. You get the feeling that the empowerment that she has gained from the experience of sharing those songs has allowed her to expand her songwriting range, to be able to write songs that are not just personal in a confessional sense, but also draw on past vulnerability to speak out to others. If Mount Moriah was cathartic self-help, then Miracle Temple is for the listeners. 

McEntire’s voice is one which would sound good if she simply sang numbers from a telephone directory. A throwback to the classic country singers, she could stand proud among the big names (namely a young Dolly Parton, which gets mentioned in pretty much every review I’ve read). However Mount Moriah do not live upon her vocal strengths alone – the writing is equally developed. The lyrics have a literary quality which are rooted in McEntire’s passion for creative writing, indeed Mount Moriah’s first album originated as a way for McEntire to utilise her collection of excess poetry and prose pieces. It’s therefore no surprise that the quality of writing here is very high. The over-arching atmosphere is one of nostalgia, and there are still plenty of references to the feelings of loss and isolation that abound in small-town America. Despite this, I think it would be wrong to describe Miracle Temple as a downbeat record. Its evocation of difficulty and pain is restrained and understated and lends the album a warm sincerity which is very rare in songwriting.

Notice that I have so far managed to avoid trying to describe the music. It’s always very difficult to tag bands with genres and it always feels a little unfair to pigeon-hole them with cliched terms that don’t seem to mean all that much to begin with. That said, it’s also very difficult to describe music in words without  touching on such terms. For that reason I will try to keep it brief. There is a big country influence here (hence the Dolly Parton comparisons), and there are also elements that could be described as indie-rock (which is to be expected considering McEntire fronted punk rock band Bellafea and guitarist and songwriter Jenks Miller played in psych-metal outfit Horseback before forming Mount Moriah). It is very difficult to come up with similar bands (presumably due to the fusion of styles), although one record which I was reminded of was last year’s Field Report album, which had similar literary stylings and country influences.

Miracle Temple is out now on Merge Records. You can buy it here on any format you desire. I highly recommend you check it out. Also have a look at the video for Bright Light below:

The post Mount Moriah – Miracle Temple appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Dark Shores is an album about space. According to various interviews it began as a concept about space exploration and wars but the human element came to the fore. The album is still influenced by space, but rather than flying saucers and lasers, the ‘space’ here is an empty vacuum, the ultimate isolation. From the opener ‘Diamond Drill’, with a closing refrain echoing ‘Its a lonely life’, you realise the album is not going to be the most upbeat listen. ‘Satellite Moon’ and ‘Dark Shores’ further the imagery of space as emptiness. ‘Maureen’s’ and ‘Little Wishes’ are full of the same hope and regret that made ’Bonfire’ so enthralling. ‘Last Grains’, a song set in a not-so hard to imagine broken future about just that, is quick and desperate, capturing perfectly the antinomic pressures put on modern persons juggling family, employment and social status. ‘Trap Door’ clings to a chink of light in darkness. These are songs crafted carefully to entwine the fantastic and the recognisable, perfect examples of his paradoxical use of fantasy to portray reality.

Showalter is not afraid to change his sound to suit the stories they tell. The early version of ‘Spacestations’, recorded for the brilliant Shaking Through series, was packed with epic synths and was worlds away (no pun intended) from the acoustic singer-songwriters he is often compared with. Since, the song has been striped back, synths replaced with a more familiar guitar, but the switch highlighted just how versatile Showalter can be. Leave Ruin was classic folk strumming, Pope Killdragon experimented with metal-tinged noise, and now we have sci-fi synths and succinct rock. His voice and lyrics would be effective against any musical backdrop and Strand of Oaks can therefore go in any direction. I for one cannot wait to follow.

Buy Dark Shores on CD from Ten Atoms or digitally via Bandcamp.

The post Strand of Oaks – Dark Shores appeared first on Various Small Flames.