London-based act Mountain Bloom show heartfelt, melodic charm throughout new track “U32,” the third from their upcoming album. A bustling quaintness is apparent early, with lush vocal restraint and trickling key droplets. The expansion is swift thereafter, with bustling bass and twinkling keys aligning with breezy vocals. Aesthetically, I’m enjoyably reminded of The Notwist’s expansive mode of production, infusing both symphonic and electronic aspects with cohesion. “U32” is a dreamy, engaging success that certainly has me anticipating Mountain Bloom’s forthcoming album.
Band member Niall Coffey elaborates on the track more below
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“U32 is the third track we have released from our album that is dropping later this year. Musically I think U32 is a good representation of the type of music we make. It is an amalgamation of all our influences, which I like to think are pretty varied. The whole song stemmed from a little drum loop I made on the Linn Drum app on for iPhone, which you can still sort of hear in the intro. As with most of our songs it is really led by the bass (thanks Aaron). The track is also laced with a bunch of samples we ran through the OP-1. We sampled the vocals from one of the other songs on the album (with the working title of ’Rhythm Keys’ ) which is peppered throughout the track, bonus points if you can pick it out. We do that quite alot across the album, peppering samples from one song into another. I like the idea of the samples being like a ‘Where’s Wally’ book when you listen to the whole record. Most songs on the record feature a snippet of another song in them. We also sampled U32 itself and dropped that in there also. You can hear the ‘change your mind’ sneak back in sample form at the end. Towards the end we also have some samples of my parents talking about what change means to them (good luck making any of that out!).”
“Lyrically the song is about compassion and understanding in the divisive times we live in. I think our perceived differences are often weaponised and used against us by people with certain vested interests. The whole sentiment of the song is about trying to put compassion above all else and understand that everyone has a story, which is not always obvious, that informs who they are today. I think you look at something like Brexit or the last US election and you can see how misinformation is used to turn people against each other, in order to benefit a very few. For me, you don’t really win anything by being the loudest person in the room or putting someone else down. You are far more likely to change someone’s mind if you say ‘I see you. I see your pain and I am trying to understand it. Let’s move forward together’. But don’t let someone turn your pain into anger at the wrong person. I think you need to attempt to understand someone’s story before you can even try to change their mind about anything. I am a firm believer that hatred is born out of pain and the song is about trying to look for that pain in others and in yourself and recognise its influence. Personally it is also about trying to remember that I am lucky to have been brought up believing what I do and that not everyone was dealt the same cards and I guess wondering if I would still think the way I do had those cards been different.”
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“U32” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of September 2020’ Spotify playlist.
The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Indie Folk.
