Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope (2008)

Sometimes when you take two nearly opposite things and put them together, you get some pretty staggering results. This is the second album from the recovering remnants of the influential hardcore band pg.99. Yes, that's right...ex-members of a hardcore band making folk records. The first Pygmy Lush album had a bit of dissociative identity disorder, switching back and forth between dense, post-hardcore songs and sparse, chilling folk songs. The shocking dichotomy made for a great album but I quite like the solid, more stable folk record that is Mount Hope. The songs are a lot brighter and folky sounding which is apparent in the first song, Asphalt (my favorite) and even a few rockabilly-esque sounds are mixed in to some songs. There are still the more melancholic and droney feelings scattered about the album which give it a unique atmosphere. I feel like that feeling is so prominent because of their musical background and what makes it so wonderful is how it shines through in a completely natural way. Folk-core just might be my new favorite genre.

1. Asphalt
2. No Feeling
3. Dead Don't Pass
4. God Condition
5. Red Room Blues
6. Mount Hope
7. Frozen Man
8. Hard To Swallow
9. Concrete Mountain
10. Butch's Dream
11. Dreams Are Class
12. Tumor

Mount Hope