Bastard Mountain – Farewell, Bastard Mountain (2014)

That project, which boldly mixes together thick electronics and emotive folk, is a bold and fresh take on “Folktronica”, a genre which doesn’t generally work out very well (Probably because it’s called “Folktronica”). This year, after delivering a solid organ-driven covers album, Pennycook has decided to collaborate with a bunch of very talented musicians on a project called Bastard Mountain.
Similar to label Song, By Toad’s previous collaborative record, Cold Seeds (a record that brought together Meursault and King Creosote, among others), Bastard Mountain aims to bring together a collective of musicians to create music that’s worth more than being some kind of super-group collaboration.


 While Cold Seeds was certainly an enjoyable album, it was just a fine folk record that didn’t really push past the vague gimmick of being a super collaborative project. From the first track on Farewell, Bastard Mountain, it’s clear that this new Pennycook side project is an entirely different beast. The expansive emotional range of Meursault is retained (In fact, a few songs here (Pissing On Bonfires) are new versions of older Meursault songs), while the electronics are exchanged for lush orchestration and vocal harmonies. The results are stunning.