Kim Deal has been part of my life for almost 15 years now. I first heard her voice on a tape recorded for me by a friend who was less than impressed by my musical taste at the time, and decided she would educate me. Through this tape I stumbled upon a whole world that I never knew existed, away from the shallow brit-pop and pub bands that came through my radio. Even today I still rate ‘Divine Hammer’ from The Last Splash as one of the most perfect pop songs ever written. As the years have passed barely a week goes by where I don’t hear her voice calling to me from my speakers. It is safe to assume I count myself as a big fan of The Breeders.

For Mountain Battles Kim, Kelley and co have worked with a variety of different producers, including regular producer Steve Albini. Using different producers gives the album a disjointed feel, sometimes feeling over-produced, and sometimes sounding more like a demo track rather than the finished article. The album opens with ‘Overglazed’, which has to go on record as one of the worst Breeders song’s ever to be committed to tape. Starting with over the top prog drum roles and heavily treated vocals insisting “I can feel it” along with some associated la-la-la ing and backwards guitars, it comes across like a Jane’s Addiction cast off, circa 2003. The next track, ‘Bang On’ again changes tack, built around a distorted, almost hip hop beat and a minimal hand clap, the Deal’s vocals competing against each other, repeating the lyrics over and over. ‘Istanbul’ works on the same idea, this time adding a double bass and some dark keys to the mix while Kim coo’s away in the background.

For too much of Mountain Battles Deal seems to revisit the past: new single ‘We’re Gonna Rise’ is a less successful outing of ‘Off You’ from Title TK. Standout track ‘Night of Joy’, with its softened vocal and swooning calls of “Come home, come home, come home” and accompanying surf guitar is the The Pixies ‘Ana’, grown up, and with an addiction to Prozac and with a midlife crisis to deal with. ‘Walk it Off’ is like Kim Deal 101, with it’s opening bass hook churning before the drums come in, with everyone joining in for the singalong chorus. In fairness, she pretty much invented the sound she is copying, but it comes across as a pale imitation of her former glories.

‘German Studies’ and ‘Regalme Esta Noche’ see Deal borrowing Frank Black’s trick of recording in a different language. While ‘German Studies’ fits well with much of The Breeders catalog, ‘Regalme Esta Noche’ sees Kelley take lead vocal duties for a straight cover of a Spanish torch song. You can imagine the original floating out of the speakers in Torremolinos in the early 70’s. However, this lo-fi take on it, with surf guitar drenched in reverb, does nothing for neither song nor band. The plodding, country by numbers of ‘Here No More’ is enough to make you look more favourably on Frank Black’s country outings.

Deal has always been known for her, er, ‘relaxed’ take on things. Sadly, too often on this record she seems to have relaxed on quality control. The musicianship throughout is questionable, and seems to point to a lack of confidence in the musicians: guitars hang on to the note a second to long, drum beats fall out of time, and guitars wandering about all over the place before getting back to the melody. The likes of ‘It’s the love’ with its by rote-drumming, and horrifically slurred solo and the droning ‘Mountain Battles’ seem little more than rough demos and half finished ideas.

During a recent interview in Uncut, Kim rejected talk of a new Pixies album by saying “I heard the last Stones record was good, but I don’t even care if it’s the best thing they’ve done, I wouldn’t listen to it. I like the Stones at the period of time that I like them, and that’s why I like them.” After the sloppy mess that is Mountain Battles, it looks like I’m going to have to apply those rules to The Breeders.
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