Hearing Trees - “Mountaineering”
Hearing Trees have served up a wonderful slow burning indie song with “Mountaineering.” The song is dedicated to Günther Messner, the famed mountaineer Reinhold Messner's brother who perished in 1970 while descending Nanga Parbat.
The song opens with a brief, muted guitar arpeggio that makes me think of some of the Edge's guitar work, specifically the opening of “Where The Streets Have No Name.” But this isn't a song that would be on a U2 record. There is none of the faux gospel work from Bono. Quickly joining in with a high-hat tapping pattern, the drums set the pulse of the song, and the bass carved a nice slot underneath with three notes per bar.
The song pushes along nicely and sets the foundation for the haunting vocals to begin. The soft, contemplative tone draws us in slowly with the lyrical story. As the song progresses, stronger guitar chords are added. The lead guitar work is simply sublime as the song gets going fully. A fuzzily-voiced riff that teases higher notes on the breaks is growled out. The vocal components shout out the words as the song peaks to its highest point. I especially like the subtle hints of the band’s accents in the tone of the words… before fading back into what sounds like a haze due to the last notes of the guitars. This is great work and I am fully a fan of Hearing Trees.