In “Fool The World,” the Pixies’ collected oral history, Kim Deal recalls a particularly raucous night out with Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly, whose songs, like Deal’s, were grossly underrepresented on her band’s albums. Long story short, it ended with Deal locking Donelly in a bathroom, only releasing her when she had promised to dedicate herself to the future of their side project, The Breeders, then in its infancy.
Such an anecdote, involving both drunkenness and dogged perseverance, is appropriately applicable to The Breeders, a band that has, through multiple lineup changes (Donnelly was unable to keep her “promise”), remained a consistent creative outlet for Deal and her expressions of pop-rock catharsis. Over the past two decades, Breeders albums have popped up now and again, delayed by rehab, side projects, and, most recently, a Pixies reunion. Six years after “Title TK,” “Mountain Battles” arrives with little fanfare. It’s less a comeback than a reminder that Deal writes excellent songs, when they’re pushed beyond the sketch phase.
“Overglazed,” an appropriate song title if ever there was one, introduces the album in fine form, coated in layers of reverb, metallic guitar klanging, and triumphantly echoing vocals from Kim Deal and her sister, Kelley. Unfortunately, this momentum is immediately dropped, as “Bang On” drags on for a long two minutes, with the Deal sisters cheerfully declaring, “I love no one…and no one loves me!” It’s a great chorus, but a song built around it would have been nice, instead of the unfinished-sounding sketch found here. The sluggishness continues through “Night of Joy,” before picking up again with the decent “We’re Gonna Rise,” a waltzing number reminiscent of the introspection found on “Island Song” from “Title TK.”
“Mountain Battles” truly picks up in its second half, with “Walk It Off”, a peppy, bass-and-drums heavy number, bearing a guttural sound that is perfectly complimented by Steve Albini’s punchy production. Like “Cannonball” on “Last Splash,” another Breeders album, or “Huffer” on “Title TK,” it’s the pop-rock anthem that no Breeders release is complete without. Deal reaches outside her general comfort zone on “Regalame Esta Noche,” a sweet, evening ballad sung in Spanish, in which her irresistible charm is placed front and center. “It’s The Love” is another of the few up-tempo numbers, giving way to the creeping closer “Mountain Battles.” This second half of “Mountain,” give or take “Overglazed” and “We’re Gonna Rise,” would make a fantastic mini-album.
One could easily come away from “Mountain Battles” believing that a Pixies reunion album is nigh upon impossible. In contrast to Frank Black’s obsessions with UFOs and deserts, Deal’s songwriting is by turns alternately pop-rock fun or tenderly human, with elements of both in the best cases. Deal and Black might have similar chord structures in their songs, but they’re singing (sometimes literally) to different planets. While “Mountain Battles” doesn’t top either of the first two excellent albums from The Breeders, it certainly matches up to “Title TK,” and proves that The Breeders can continue to remain a vital force on their own terms and timeline.
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