The Breeders – Mountain Battles

This is a good album. I want to start with that because nothing else I write should detract from the fact that this is a good album. The problems arise when The Breeders put out two amazing, nearly perfect albums, 9 years apart, and then take 6 years to drop this. it’s a little disappointing.
Last Splash is, among other things, a road-trip essential due to its beginning-to-end excellence. Title TK excels in the same way, but with a totally different feel. There is not a song on either record over which you want to skip.
The first two tracks of Mountain Battles will reassure you that Kim Deal hasn’t spent the past 6 years writing lyrics. And I agree that one of the most winning attributes of The Breeders has been their ability to write freakishly great songs while obviously lacking in technical proficiency, but the guitar solo on “It’s The Love” does not sound like sloppy pop brilliance, or even a loving tribute to the songs original authors. It sounds like a 12 year old, who’s been playing guitar for a week, showing off to his parents. There are places on this album where the not-trying-too-hard sounds a lot like they’re trying too hard.
There are, however, several songs on here that are good and sound like The Breeders that we know. I would actually say that the majority of these songs sound like familiar Breeders. But I think that’s why I’m bored with them. This album doesn’t sound like it’s own entity. Songs like “Istanbul” and “German Studies” stand out as interesting, and “Regalame Esta Noche” can’t help but sound different with the Spanish lyrics and a guest guitarist.
Fans of The Breeder’s first album, Pod, will probably like this album a lot more. But I have been let down. It’s still good. Its just not as good as I hoped it would be.