5/28/2020

Mountain Time (Chris Simpson of Mineral) Releases New Single, “Lady Of The Radiator,” From Forthcoming Album

MOUNTAIN TIME (CHRIS SIMPSON OF MINERAL, THE GLORIA RECORD)
RELEASES NEW SINGLE, “LADY OF THE RADIATOR”
 
ALBUM SINGLES, “ROSEMARY, ETC.” AND “EMPTY GRAVES,” BOTH RECENTLY
FEATURED AS PART OF NPR MUSIC’s “NEW MUSIC FRIDAY”
 
NEW ALBUM, MUSIC FOR LOOKING ANIMALS, IN STORES AND ONLINE
VIA SPARTAN RECORDS ON FRIDAY, JUNE 26
 
“'Rosemary, Etc.’ reflects Simpson’s deep dive into Sixties and Seventies music ... It is a bustling tune that finds Simpson arranging a pastoral mix of horns, twinkling guitars and choral vocals around a steady acoustic strum and percussion stomp.” – Rolling Stone
 
“'Rosemary, Etc.' is a brass-laden folk-rock sway seasoned with Simpson’s 
alt-rock pedigree." – Stereogum
 
“Simpson’s lyrics are searching and vivid … ‘Empty Graves’ is a meticulously arranged indie folk number that pairs his haunting poetry with lilting instrumentals.” – American Songwriter
 
(ON SOUNDCLOUD)
Spartan Records and Mountain Time – the solo project of singer-songwriter Chris Simpson of Mineral and The Gloria Record – are excited to present “Lady Of The Radiator,” the third track to be lifted from the FridayJune 26 release of his new album titled Music For Looking Animals (pre-order). “Lady Of The Radiator” tells the somber story of someone who has insulated and isolated themselves from the world in such a way that they can’t be reached or hurt. And the loneliness and sadness that comes from realizing you do need other people and it being too late. Stream the new single on SoundCloud HERE.
Photo credit: Daniel Cavazos
In the aftermath of the dissolution of his adored bands, Simpson took a step back from making music for the first time since his mid-teens. And it was during this period where an affinity for the music of the Sixties and Seventies such as Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground and many more, along with the freedom and expression of jazz and artists who radically followed their own vision, took root. With additional inspiration drawn from the arenas of psychology and eastern philosophy, the beauty of the natural world, Simpson’s children and wife, old Time Life books, and the self-stated immenseness of the universe, Mountain Time has become almost more of a state-of-mind than a moniker.

Mountain Time, both a reference to timeliness (or lack thereof) and a childhood amongst the natural beauty of Colorado evolved from Chris Simpson’s previous solo project Zookeeper as the most fitting moniker for the latest project. With the transition, while the process and approach became more autonomous, the drive and ultimate desire to create remained rooted within many of the same wells of inspiration that fueled previous incarnations of Simpson’s songwriting. For Simpson, much of what his new album, Music For Looking Animals, is externalizing are larger questions embedded within the natural passing of time: What things do we hold onto? What must we let go?

While time has brought certain chapters to a close, new ones have opened: Family. School. Sobriety. Seeking. However, part of this recasting of priorities has involved the shedding of some former skins, and much of this process took place within the cathartic confines of writing Music For Looking Animals.

"I think for me, [writing] has always been an expression of seeking,” he says. “Seeking to know more about myself or the world around me. Seeking to belong or understand. Just expressing myself and communicating who or what I am. What makes me more wholly myself or individual. Or what makes me more human. I think this has been the same throughout my songwriting. For me, it’s the way I process being alive."


Simpson entered the studio with producer/collaborator Doug Walseth to capture the emotion of the songs within the “Leonard Cohen palette” i.e. songs bolstered with strings, horns and background singers rather than layers of electric guitars and keyboards. At the start of the recording sessions, Simpson and Walseth committed to capturing everything on an 8-track one-inch analog tape machine and forgoing the use of computers. However, as the arrangements, layering, and ideas became more complex, the initial approach became limiting. What began as a very spare folk album became much more grand, ambitious and dense.

While Music For Looking Animals is an attempt at simplification, it is hardly minimal in terms of musical, lyrical and spiritual depth. “I am completely convinced of the paradoxes that exist,” says Simpson. "That love and compassion are the only answers to hate and fear. There is so much healing needed both within and without, and that starts at home, in our own hearts and lives. I know it’s tempting to think that that has nothing to do with the state of the world, but I think it might be the only thing that has anything to do with the state of the world.” It is this type of reflective seeking that brought Music For Looking Animals into existence, and it is this type of seeking that the album invites the listener to embark on after hitting play.
TwitterFacebookInstagramYouTube
###

No comments:

RIDE @ Fonda Theatre // 12.19.24 // THE PORTABLE INFINITE

All photos taken by Martin Worster