Mountain Battles
The Breeders (4AD)
Not that the Breeders have, ever been particularly focused, but the extra- " addled disposition of 2002's 'Title TK" might have been attributable to the group members' bouts of drug abuse and rehab plus a long hiatus that preceded the release. Although there haven't been widespread tales of drugs and rehab since then, front-woman Kirn Deal has had the band back in limbo the past few years as she resumed her role as bass player for the Pixies during that group's successful reunion tour.
Deal and her twin sister, Kelley Deal, finally have the Breeders on track again with the new "Mountain Battles," though the group has never sounded more ... off track. That's not necessarily a negative: A big part of the Deals' charm has been their knack for making edgy rock that blurs and staggers and blasts and ambles and" sometimes hitches into a killer melody. But it doesn't feel very positive, either, when the band collapses in the imploded self-indulgence of the new cut "Spark" and anchors the peculiar performance-art title track to a drone.
Fans who felt burned by "Title TK" will get a sick feeling from the opening two songs of "Mountain Battles" -- the pointlessly reverbed "Overglazed" followed by the half-formed "Bang On." But relief comes from a number of disparate directions, including the subtly narcotic "We're Gonna Rise," the hypnotic burned-out punk "No Way" and the startlingly/ lucid Kelley Deal channeling a Latina crooner on a cover of the bolero "Regalame Esta Noche.
Meanwhile, listeners hoping for something reminiscent of 1993's breakout "Last Splash" (which spawned the defining hit "Cannonball") will find rewards in the form of a choppy, discordant "German Studies" (sung in German by Kim Deal), a pounding, tattered and droll "Walk It Off" and a surreal "Here No More" that sounds like a campfire song with easy-strum guitar and the Deals' joint vocals.
Apart from that nostalgic trio of tracks, most of the songs on "Mountain Battles" don't create traditional infection, though many will stir appreciation for their quirkiness.*
