Mt Mountain Return With Another Dusty Psych Meditation

2017 was a strong year for atmospheric Perth five-piece Mt Mountain. As well as releasing their album Dust, they signed to UK label Cardinal Fuzz, got to perform some intimate seated shows and even managed to have a 17-minute track played on radio. Now they head into the new year with the release of new single “Cathedral” that at times sounds like if The Oh Sees were from the south coast of Western Australia rather than the Bay Area.

Before the band head out to play some shows in support of "Cathedral" we sent guitarist Glenn Palmer to some questions to find out more.

Noisey: Tame Impala is the first band people to tend to think of when Perth and psych are mentioned but you guys are quite a bit different. Who are some of your contemporaries in the Perth scene?

Glenn Palmer: We entered the scene after Tame had blown up and definitely saw a wave of Tame inspired bands for a while. Hideous Sun Demon, Pissedcolas and Erasers are a few that followed a similar path to us, blending elements of psych with other genres like punk, garage, kraut or electronic music which gives them all a quite different sound and we take a lot from what they do.

How does "Cathedral" stand out from other stuff you have written and recorded?

It’s a song we’ve been playing live since 2016 and the first track we recorded for the new record. Half the reasoning behind releasing it as the first single must be because we just want to get the damn thing out already. It also felt like the track that best stands alone from the new record whereas the others work best in context with each other.

This may sound weird but at times it sounds like a slower Oh Sees track.

Not weird at all! Oh Sees releases, especially from the past two years or so, have been an influence for sure. I can hear that on little parts throughout this new album.

With a few exceptions, post-rock seems to have a reputation as played by earnest but dull white dudes. Agree to disagree or just straight disagree?

Am I able to agree? To be honest, I don’t know much about the post-rock scene. We get lumped into that category a bit… but maybe that’s just because we’re dull white guys?

There’s some good photos of your studio/jam space. Where is this? Where is the closet bottle shop and best snack spot?

It’s our friend Ron’s studio on a farm in a small town about an hour drive south from Perth called North Dandalup. We usually go stay down on the property for a weekend at a time. The goal is to leave as little as possible so we pack as many beers, microwave meals and snacks as possible. If supplies run out there’s a proper small country town bottle-o and a servo 10 minutes up the road for coffee/breakfast.

Mt. Mountain ‘Cathedral’ 2018 Tour:
Jan 20 - Perth at The Bird
Jan 25 - Adelaide at the Grace Emily
Jan 26 - Brisbane at the Bearded Lady
Jan 27 - Melbourne at The Curtin