Blind Pilot return with their fourth album, ‘In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain’, a solid collection of songs that point to a brighter future for the band.
It’s been eight years since the Oregon pop-folk band Blind Pilot released their last album. It’s fair to say it’s been an uncomfortable hiatus for a band that burst onto the indie-folk scene in 2008 and established a reputation for insightful, emotive songs, with killer hooks that delighted thousands of dedicated fans. But a chronic case of writer’s block left frontman and songwriter, Israel Nebeker, desperately hunting for a key to unlock his writing process.
Nebeker tried everything to overcome the problem: self-help books, therapy, he even travelled the world trying to find something that would let him reconnect with his missing muse. Relief finally came from that old tried and tested technique of setting yourself a deadline. Nebeker gave himself a month to write an album’s worth of songs, vowing that whatever materialised he’d take the resulting output to his bandmates and see what they could make of them. Happily, it all turned out fine.
All-turned-out-fine was certainly helped by an especially shrewd choice of producer. Josh Kaufman is the go-to guy in indie-folk these days. He’s played with War on Drugs, The National and has even recorded with Taylor Swift. As a producer he’d already done excellent work with The Hold Steady, Josh Ritter and This Is the Kit. However, what really sold him to Nebeker and the rest of the band was his role as a key member and producer with indie-folk supergroup, Bonny Light Horseman. You can hear Kaufman’s influence across the album and the band credit him with helping shake things up and getting them back into being a successful working unit.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of ‘In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain‘ was inspired by Nebeker’s journeys of discovery as he sought that elusive inspiration. Touchingly, the album’s opening track, ‘Jacaranda’ is a thank-you to fellow cofounder of the band, drummer Ryan Dobrowski, for his patience in waiting for Nebeker to find his way through his writing difficulties. Despite the forced writing timetable, the songs always sound heartfelt, ranging from the sparse, piano-led ‘Coming Back’, to the more anthemic, ‘Brave’, inspired by a visit to activists working with migrants in Mexico. With guitars, bass and drums underpinning the other songs, additional colour comes from banjo, mountain dulcimer, violin, mandolin, various keyboards, woodwind and, as ever, the band’s trademark sumptuously layered vocal harmonies. Album closer, ‘Believe Me’, is a high spot and likewise ‘Just a Bird’, its clever, carefully crafted hooks evoking classic Crowded House, with Nebeker’s gentle but beguiling vocals even bringing to mind Neil Finn.
It’s a good album. The production and the overall quality of the performances stand out. These are excellent musicians who know how to get the most out of the material they are working with. Perhaps the songs don’t quite match the material from the band’s early years, but given the circumstances that’s hardly a surprise. However, having struggled through these frustratingly barren years, Nebeker and his bandmates now seem ready to press on. The future looks much brighter for Blind Pilot.
