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Not many bands can take you on a journey from camfire singalongs to experimental noise rock in the space of one album. But that’s just what Portland’s Blitzen Trapper does on their latest release, Wild Mountain Nation.
It’s kind of hard to figure out Blitzen Trapper’s history. There are vague references to the six members being childhood friends and talk about some sort of event bringing them together as a band. Here’s the band’s official take on it:
Now the songs in those days used to burst forth from their heads like an explosion of birds, which then had to be hunted down and captured in nets of magnetic tape. One evening on the slopes of the famous volcano, Mount Hood, as the group chased through the primeval forest and falling dusk for a song that had so far eluded them, something magical happened. Stumbling into a clearing in the wood, they came upon a shabby black drumkit, a star of eleven points emblazoned on its head, ferocious as a grizzly. Three microphone stands stood silhouetted against the gloom like the massive antlers of a buried beast. Surely this was a trick! But no, here was an old Silvertone amp; there a beat-up Rhodes. There were organs and couches and lamps and posters and a P-bass—in short, everything necessary for a band to comfortably create great rock music.
So they switched on the lights and warmed up the tubes and began to play, intentionally and together as a sextet for the first time. And the woodland creatures crept out to hear them, the elk and faun and marmot and grey squirrel and spider.
And the creatures were delighted.
Thanks guys, that helps.
Whatever their origin or background, it’s clear that they enjoy synthesizing their influences into their own brand of uniqueness. Listening to their songs you can easily pick out The Flaming Lips, The Band, Paul McCartney, The Grateful Dead, and Pavement, and I’m sure I’m missing a lot. That’s quite the eclectic bunch. And like the unholy offspring of their many influences, Blitzen Trapper is very, very weird, but at times genius.
Blitzen Trapper - Futures And Folly
This isn’t a Paul McCartney song, but damn if it doesn’t sound like one. Specifically a Wing-era McCartney song.
Blitzen Trapper - Sci-fi Kid
And this sounds nothing like a McCartney song. It’s a lush, synth-laden pop gem though, with a good hook and just enough weirdness to be interesting.
Bonus Videos
Official Video for “Wild Mountain Nation”:
“Country Caravan” live:
Links
Official Site
Blitzen Trapper on MySpace
Buy Wild Mountain Nation
