Big Thief, one of the best and most adept bands of the 21st century, has done more in six short years than most bands can squeeze out of an entire catalog. Each of their five studio albums has managed to expand their signature homespun charm into exciting, self-contained albums. The sound always moves forward but with distinct detours projecting their country-folk and singer-songwriter tendencies over disparate palates. The band’s prolificity extends to their solo catalog as well, the most notable inclusions naturally coming from lead singer and principal songwriter Adrianne Lenker. But behind her eclipsing generational talent, is guitarist Buck Meek, an artist who could easily shepherd his own headlining band if he needed to.
Aside from some early, Big Thief-adjacent work, Meek’s true breakout was with 2021’s Two Saviors, a beautiful, alt-country collection of songs, most of which approached the quality, if not the scale of his mother band’s releases. Its follow-up, Haunted Mountain, retains the twang and eccentricities from his preceding output while pushing towards a more spacious, but still country-influenced sound. One of the album’s standouts for example, “Didn’t Know You Then”, incorporates the classic steel guitar you would expect from Meek, but with layered backing vocals and twinkling piano keys that elevate the buoyant love song into genuine greatness.
The track also serves as the crux of the album’s overtly positive outlook. Although so many of the songs collected here are old-fashioned love songs, the focus of the album is tied more to Meek’s joie de vivre, and the way that love can elicit itself throughout the world when it’s appreciated and receptive to a person’s outlook.
Many of the album’s songs were written by Meek in the presence of, or with the memory of different mountain ranges. Whether it be the Serra da Estrela, the Cyclades, Valle Onsernone, or the Santa Monica mountains, his travels and observance of the beauty of nature provided a respective response throughout the album. Mount Shasta even serves as a plot point for “Cyclades” and “Haunted Mountain” the latter of which, was co-written with Jolie Holand, who plans on releasing her own version later this year.
At times the album’s awe-inspired evocation of devotion wobbles, as with the song “Lullabies”. Its slightly contrived translation of a mother/son relationship is beautifully honest but inevitably feels like a songwriting exercise, shoehorned in between more spontaneous and genuine tributes to love. Still, the album ends with a clear demonstration of reverence with another collaboration. “The Rainbow” features lyrics penned by the late Judee Sill, one of the great unsung singer-songwriters of the early seventies. In it, Meek provides backing to lyrics from Sill’s unearthed journal, creating a conduit between the artists and their mutual admiration for the world around them. It’s a short, sweet moment that encapsulates the album’s position as a thoughtful respite in a cynical, resentful world.
