Mt. Kili allow their sound to flow and wander in hypnotic, ambitious fashion on their new album The Noticer
Since being formed by Asheville, North Carolina singer-songwriter Rick Sichta, Mt. Kili have been establishing themselves as a band with a distinctive and character-filled take on modern alternative folk, pushing their sound into a lot of distinctive and ambitious places that make for a style that feels wholly their own while having this feeling of rawness and authenticity.
Their second album The Noticer, is a release that feels like a continuation of this approach while pushing it into bolder and more expansive territory, opening with the subtle and stirring ‘Don’t Start a War’, a track that has a stripped-back and heartfelt feel to it throughout which is amplified by a vocal performance that feels both despondent and emotional.
The title track ‘The Noticer’ follows and has some gorgeous intricacies to its instrumentation and the flowing and thoughtful way that it builds. The way that the drums ease their way into the track and it steadily rises and progresses make for a spellbinding listen, and one that continues to highlight the distinctive allure and resonating appeal of their sound.
There is an anxiety to ‘The Rain Song’ and especially the vocals that adds a bit more of an edge and a tension to their sound, with the gorgeous instrumentation managing to keep things feeling composed and give it the kind of clarity that you come to expect, whereas there is a more subdued feel to ‘The Road Isn’t as Long as It Seems’ and its gently plucked guitars that has an aura of calm and grace to it that is wonderfully capped off by some whistling towards the end.
There is a real sense of purpose to ‘Her Song’ that seems to get more pronounced as the layers creep in and the sound feels all the more dense and ambitious, making for a listening experience that is packed full of these cute little sonic nuances and thoughtful ideas.
There is a absorbing feel to ‘Kyle’ that sees the track allowed to flow and expand as the track goes on in the kind of way that the band have mastered through their sound, while ‘The Weather Report’ offers a slow burn of a track that has a richness and textured depth to it that has a transformative quality as it is allowed to breathe and explore on its own terms.
‘Scars’ is the shortest track on the album, coming in at just under two minutes long, feeling like it gently fades out just as quickly as it gets started but offering more understated and quietly compelling moments, while ‘Strawberry Fields’ is a track that creates a beautiful atmosphere with its strings and thoughtful lyrics that feels effortlessly easy to lose yourself within through its duration.
The album closes with ‘All in Good Time’, a reflective track that feels like it ties together a lot of the themes of the album while continuing to hold onto the tenets that make it feel so resonating and real throughout. The album, and the project as a whole, draw from Rick Sichta’s transformative backpacking experiences through China, Tibet, and his trek to Mt. Everest, and this really comes across within the space to journey and meander that the tracks are given, with this free-flowing and wandering spirit that feels meditative and almost hypnotic to follow along with. This makes for a collection of tracks that feel both absorbing and alluring, with the range of instrumentation and the more drawn-out and spacious structures allowing for real moments of beauty and artistry to shine through.
