Mountain Man - Made The Harbor

If Mountain Man were to pack any more nature into the half-hour of music on their rather beautiful debut album, they'd need a cannery. Buffalo, herons, moths, dogs and honeybees are just a fraction of the dramatis personae. The setting is, in part, Vermont, where the three members of the band – all female, contrary to the name – met at college. Appalachian folk informs the sparse instrumentation (usually a lone, slow-plucked acoustic guitar), the complex harmonies and the lyrics, which also invoke black hills and Mississippi swells. The sound is austere but there are riches here, yielded over time.