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Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains by Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains

Release Date: Oct 21, 2008

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Record label: Saddle Creek

60

Music Critic Score

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Album Review: Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains by Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains

Fairly Good, Based on 3 Critics

AllMusic - 70
Based on rating 7/10

Following his short run with Death from Above 1979, Sebastien Grainger opted to take the solo route, nixing his former band's hip-hop and punk influences for a combination of swaggering dance rock (think Head Automatica without the trashy glitz) and singer/songwriter material. "Love Is Not a Contest" is a genuine piano ballad, featuring Grainger's earnest, processed vocals and keyboard flourishes from the Stills' Liam O'Neil. The bulk of this debut record, however, devotes itself to danceability and sweaty fun.

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The Guardian - 60
Based on rating 3/5

There's more than a touch of Dave Grohl about Sebastien Grainger: from playing drums with Canadian dance-punks Death from Above 1979, he's progressed to fronting a foursquare rock outfit that isn't quite the thing his old band was. Similarly, his new sound - piledriving, anthemic, melodic - could be his ticket to bigger things than he achieved with the culty DFA79. The question is: if Grainger can write hook-heavy, arena-loving tunes like this - and there's hardly a track on this album that doesn't barrel along melodically - why hasn't he done it before? One to ponder.

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PopMatters - 50
Based on rating 5/10

If there’s a driving ethos to the ragtag band of artistic brothers and sisters that make up the nebulous genre called “indie rock”, it’s a persistent shared yearning for a sense of community. Perhaps this desire for belonging defines all musical and cultural subcultures, but it’s particularly strong in the indie community. Hippies and hipsters share more than just a prefix; they share a totalized fuzzy liberal-utopian vision of all people (or at least all the right people) united in a loose collective of artistry and common social purpose.

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