Review by Vince Leigh
The Mountain is the third single in for the Nashville-based duo Calamity Jane, a full-to-the-brim country pop track with a resplendent production job highlighting what is essentially a well-crafted contemporary mainstream pop song.
Their previous releases have all done relatively well for the duo. Their debut, a reimagined version of Devil Went Down To Georgia received a tonne of praise and attention and helped guarantee the band some encouraging radio adds and streaming action.
The Mountain covers similar ground to their post-Devil Went Down To Georgia release The Chase, yet feels a little more self-assured; and that’s not only reflected in the lyric. The sound is as smooth and rollicking as you want your enthusiastic country records to be, with an expert team of producers and mixers at the helm fine-tuning what is quite an expansive and panoramic rock-pop sonic vista.
Lucy Cantley’s virtuoso performance once again shares the limelight with the other half of this team, vocalist Camille Rae, a blend which works well, with each sharing featured moments throughout the track.
The chorus is a big one, eschewing any laidback attributes for the all-encompassing gung-ho hook.
And the lyric reinforces this; a timely reminder of the power of our self-will and determination.
The song also makes use of some typical evocations, the ‘worlds unknown’, ‘guiding light’, the ‘valleys’, the ‘stars’ and, of course, the ‘mountains’. There are some surprising dynamics here, which presents a nicely modulated balance between the stripped-back and the full throttle.
And it’s curious to note how on this particular record, one can hear the violin and voice interchange more emphatically, as though the melodic structure and arrangement has allowed for this, creating a smooth transition from string to vocal throughout the track without alerting the listener to these alternating cadences.
If you like your country doused with some semi-majestic pop then The Mountain is worth checking out.
