Led by siblings Toni Hietamäki (Oranssi Pazuzu, Waste of Space Orchestra) and Henna Hietamäki (Cats of Transnistria, Henna & Houreet) and supported by the drummer Jukka Rämänen (Hexvessel, Dark Buddha Rising) bassist Riku Pirttiniemi (Death Hawks) and guitarist/backing vocalist Pauliina Lindell (Vuono), Dust Mountain have delivered up their debut album Hymns For Wilderness.
The music on Hymns For Wilderness is heavily inspired and influenced by 1960’s and 1970’s artists such as Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Jefferson Airplane, Coven and Linda Perhacs. The songs are a rich blend of hypnotic grooves and meditative female vocals. Instrumentally there is plenty of psychedelic adventurousness while never becoming overly complex. Even when there are various ideas happening simultaneously it still retains the dark, slightly doomy hypnotic pulse through the whole thing. Hymns For Wilderness evokes images of slightly unhinged hippies on acid in a field of poppies, however instead of only free love they are also planning a mass murder of some kind. The slow menacing feel of the song “Margaret” definitely captures that vibe. While songs like “Harvest Maiden” and “Apollo” also have some of that darkness yet are far more pastoral in their evocations. “Holy Equinox'' feels like the moment when you are deep into that acid trip and have discovered the meaning of life and universe while also being aware that you are still surrounded by those unhinged murderous hippies. Dust Mountain continues to walk this tightrope between the tranquil and the sinister throughout Hymns For Wilderness to great and rewarding effect.
The production is lush and has a very old school warm sound to everything. This approach serves the music perfectly. With the solid organic sound of the rhythm section coming through clearly underneath the layered guitars and vocals which are at times dripping with delay and reverb among other effects.
Hymns For Wilderness is an album that clearly owes a lot to the bands that it draws inspiration from and yet it is still very much its own beast. The music is both transcendent and eerie and it all sounds great. Definitely recommended for fans of the bands mentioned above.
Dust Mountain:
Toni Hietamäki
Henna Hietamäki
Jukka Rämänen
Riku Pirttiniemi
Pauliina Lindell
Tracklisting:
1. Harvest Maiden
2. Under My Spell
3. Margaret
4. Village On Fire
5. Holy Equinox
6. Apollo
7. Bird Hymns
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