Blitzen Trapper have self-released three albums since 2003, including their latest, Wild Mountain Nation. The struggle of DIY indie bands can be over-romanticized, but in the case of Blitzen Trapper, the freedom to work at their own pace is most likely what brought them to come up with the cock-eyed stylistic blitzkrieg of Wild Mountain Nation. The steps up to it have been hesitant: The band's first two albums adhered to both earnest country-derived conventions and a modern disregard for the constraints of genre, somehow reconciling these two impulses to cook up perfectly listenable, if somewhat tentative, pop on tracks like "Summer Twin", "Asleep for Days", and "Texaco", to name a few. But aside from a few songs worth cherry-picking, none showed the work of a group destined for the spotlight-- or, for that matter, capable of deciding between being an alt-country revival act or boundary-blurring experimentalists.
It's better for all of us they've refused to focus. While I'm loathe to make a Pavement reference (lo-fi recordings! Slackers with guitars!!1!), Wild Mountain Nation comes closer to catching the carefree fuck-off sprawl of Wowee Zowee than any record in recent memory. Here the band sail through any number of genres and styles without giving off a whiff of effort, their apparent West coast breeziness covering for the judicious amount of detail crammed into nearly every song. Opener "Devil's a Go-Go" undermines its windmilling guitars with stuttering, unpredictable rhythm; those same hiccups slide inauspiciously into the unrepentant country/southern-rock of the title track. Singer Eric Earley double-tracks himself with as much personality as his reedy voice can muster, but there's a ringer somewhere in the Blitzen Trapper's pack of guitarists-- some Guitar Center regional manager bending notes with optimal precision, lifting these songs to more authentic peaks. Elsewhere, the prim and proper indie pop of "Futures & Folly" collides with the snarling glam rave-up of "Miss Spiritual Tramp" (which features a brief harmonica and, swear to god, a jaw-harp hoedown). The canny snake-charmer guitar line of "Sci-Fi Kid" fits easily on any satellite radio playlist, yet here it's next to the gleefully raucous carnival stomp of "Woof & Warp of the Quiet Giant's Hem". All of them demand equal attention on a dizzyingly sequenced album.
Compared to their previous albums, Wild Mountain Nation has a newfound and audible confidence. It's the work of an assured band who can not only treat genre like so much fingerpaint, but brave enough to play it straight for a minute-- not as an empty exercise, but a chance to aspire. "Summer Town" is the record's big breather, a washed-out AM country ballad on which Earley sings slowly and carefully through his most arresting lyrics while a harmonica, its tone sweet and simple, cements the song's yearning. Closing tracks "Country Caravan" and the western slowpoke "Badger's Black Brigade" are chummy and unpretentious sing-alongs, and while the former comes a little too close to the Eagles for comfort, it's only because of its fantastically broad but contagious melody. The home run, though, is the title track, conjuring up easy freedom-rock images and Last Waltz montages, but forget nostalgia and influence for just a moment: The whole song swings, the guitars bend as proudly and woozily as teenagers with stolen six-packs, and on every clear enunciation and careful slur, you can hear Earley's grin.
But as diverse as it is, and as joyous as it is, Wild Mountain Nation just has songs worth coming back to. It's the title track's early vocal hook that begs you to replay it before anything else, and then maybe the fact that it's so crammed with slide guitars that the edges glisten. The gentle, almost uptight pop (comparatively) of "Futures & Folly" bely its resilient melody, as it's the nugget that holds up best after repeated listens. I could list more highlights-- like, the downtuned dark horse "Hot Tip/Tough Cub", or playful glam tribute "Murder Babe", or or or-- but if you're down with the diversity and can sit still while the band tears through every idea it has left, Wild Mountain Nation is a revelation from beginning to end.
