Smoke rises from faraway peaks. The grey sky pours rain on moss, gravel, cedar, and stone. Our hearts are moulded by this landscape. Our souls survive in it.
As forest fires currently wrack and ravage Western Canada, a very timely and touching take on the flames from the peaks and valleys emerges. Serendipity and synchronicity sometimes comes from the strangest sources … Vancouver Island’s Harrow breaks a 3 year silence with A Fire in the Mountains, a meditation on solitude and transcendence recorded in the waning of 2017. Ian Campbell (aka Crooked Mouth) and Jacob Moyer have created an EP that is equal parts frenetic Cascadian black metal and meditative, psychedelic folk. Explosive energy outbursts meet with heartfelt, tranquil campfire song in a fusion indicative of the spirit of the land which wrought it.
Recorded by Campbell in a short live-off-the-floor session, A Fire In the Mountains is certainly the best representation of the band’s live sound captured thus far, and adds new elements like harmonium, cittern, and the poetry of Washington’s David Whyte.
With beautiful artwork by Markus Wolff (Agalloch, Lasher Keen, Antlers) and mastering by Studio Tehom (Gevurah, Night Profound) rounding it out, this release cries Harrow’s return from tops of distant peaks. The fire in the mountains is still burning strong.
BANDCAMP
