After spending several months looking for it on the internet, need I say between long bouts of procrastination I finally stumbled upon it. on a site with the URL http://mountainman.bandcamp.com. Growing even more curious I took the leap of faith and went to find out what Pecknold was raving about and I was greated with pleasant harmonies and very hollow sounding backing comprising of only an acoustic guitar.

Mountain Man are Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath and on first listen struck a chord to the inner choirboy and the love for harmonies with any number of participants. Furthermore the album has a very earthy and raw feel about it. In saying that by no means is the musical ability lacking, but each track presented bares so much from the heartEach song almost autobiographical in the amount of soul put in each performance, although the lyrics probably have no autobiographical references at all.

The album has that trapped in a wood cabin over winter feel ala Bon Iver, hauntingly beautiful as it spins its way through its very short but concise sixteen minutes. The first track ‘Animal Tracks’ greets us with slight yodels on the end of her syllables and an interesting chorus “And the sweat will roll down our backs, and we’ll follow animal tracks.” It sets the scene perfectly in conjunction with her musical alias ‘Mountain Man’

An album so short allows itself to roll with the punches quick and fast and not dropping in intensity over its seven tracks. The following track ‘Mouthwings’ also has these amazing sounding vocal harmonies, which I’m pretty sure I could rave on about all day. Her ability to throw her melodies around is a feat at that, coupled with harmonies over the top, do I need to say anymore.

‘Bathtub’ more dissonant than the other songs but just as melodious. This song once again showing the earthy feel with slight clipping on the introduction of the harmony lines, giving the album a very primitive sound though only released last year. ‘Bathtub’ is short and sweet clocking in just over two minutes, not out of place, with many of the songs less than three minutes in length.

The final track ‘Honeybee’  a campfire style song sung a capella, a fitting end to the offering from ‘Mountain Man’. The album can be found at http://mountainman.bandcamp.com and is a pay what you feel it is worth with a minimum of US$5. The album is able to preview before hand and even if you don’t feeling like splashing out on the album it is well worth a listen.

Review Score: 8.5/10