Slow Walk crafts a fully personal concept record on ‘The Mountain’, referencing and channeling a sense of escapism from more massive and cinematic records from bygone decades. It is an entire and complete experience, the winding journey of synth textures, rock propulsion, and indie-pop melodies never losing track of the core heart. T’he Mountain’ opens gently and quietly with “Mountain Dreamer”, assured and composed in its sense of drive; the air is calmer at the base, but tension lies just out of sight. A little farther up the path, “From The Town Below” expands on its namesake, painting an introspective feeling of its home, the base of the ascent. Like asking a question out loud while still in the parking lot, “So Why Mountains?” ponders the need to go so far, drawing focus to the personal center of strength. The sunshine confidence of “High Chance” remedies all doubts, driving toward a brighter place. With the chorus, it becomes a pep talk for the long path ahead, paired with the lifting melodies.
“Don’t Carry That Weight” is the throbbing heart of the album, with a great dose of rhythmic punch to remind the ego that we are more than the sum of our trials and tribulations. “Younger Legs” feels more subdued, a softer, jazzier part of the record with an air of nostalgia and sepia tones that smells of adolescent days and the stretch of lean calves that might have taken us so much further. “Nature Don’t Care” flips the script by putting the focus on our epic-scale insignificance before towering mountains and unruly forests. “PONR” (Point of No Return) returns the record to a state of anxiety, asking whether it is too late to turn back. A darker mood, “PONR” quickly amasses its tension and feels ready to explode in volume and noise as all hell breaks loose. Pressure builds in the thick and emotional crux of the album, piling on and becoming more desperate as the point of no return solidifies and hardens in time.
The closing series of songs take the listener on the final ascent, drawing them back down and returning to the origin in a summation of the experience as a whole. Both grand in its sense of overwhelming achievement and more tempered in its fatigue, “The Pinnacle” expands in a regal and timeless atmosphere. It feels as though you have climbed it all, a peak of both the physical landscape and your own personal challenge. The final track “Sum It All Up” serves as a stoic, contemplative conclusion to the record as a whole, composed, and collected in its totality. All of this, ‘The Mountain’ was recorded at home in a short window of two weeks. The hurried nature and frayed ends of the recordings only make them all the more suited to the theme of grappling with fear and taking the next step regardless of how daunting the path may be.
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