The Breeders
Mountain Battles
4AD / Inertia


Kim Deal began her musical stardom with gigantic critical acclaim as bass player of legendary band The Pixies. It was interesting twist of fate that her other musical project, The Breeders, ended up outselling The Pixies with the classic indie rock album, 'Last Splash'. Since then, Deal has had the pressure of trying to live up to these serious career highs, and most would agree that 2002's 'Title TK' did not live up to this huge potential. The truth is, 'Mountain Battles' is not all it could be either, but amidst the wide variations of musical styles there are still some exciting moments.

Walk It Off is an attitude-laden indie rock that deserves to be a Triple J hit. Bang On takes that sound and mashes it with an RnB groove while simultaneously tipping its hat to Fifties Americana. Deal shows off her multi-lingual skills with a song in German (German Studies), but even cooler is the reverb-heavy sultry Spanish number Regalame Esta Noche. Unfortunately, The Breeders repeatedly slip past moments of dreamy haziness into a directionless stupor, as on the title track and the poorly titled blandness of Night Of Joy. However, 'Mountain Battles' does contain some unexpected surprise packages like the sweet gospel/ roots tune Here No More, which could sneak into the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou'.

'Mountain Battles' lacks the thorough appeal that The Breeders had on 'Last Splash' and doesn't contain a new Cannonball ready to set the world on fire, but this dish still has enough for fans to chew on and feel sated.

Scott Berry