Written by: Dave Cantrell

Nothing quite like discovering one of this world’s most wryly astute songwriters and (especially) lyricists hiding in plain sight. In this case said artist is named Leo Bargely, the Edinburgh-bred and, since at least 2015, rather indefatigable leader of the redoubtable Mt. Doubt.  Echoing, in style and word, everyone from Edwyn Collins to Baby Bird to those gents from The Bitter Springs, Bargery and his cohorts bring an alluring and kind of forceful melancholy to bear, especially here on the first track from their new record Doubtlands, slated for a September release on the marvelous Last Night From Glasgow imprint. While at first audio glance one might read Bargery as being umbilically connected to a congenital cynicism – and indeed it does seem that a tendency toward darkness likely comes easily to him – it would appear, at least as heard here, that something of a sweet reflex toward redemption can’t help but insert itself into the mix. Presented in the form of a conflictual meditation on the inherently sublime resilience of the natural world in the face of our species’ callous encroachment upon it on pretty much every front, “Dark Slopes Away” (aside from being a serious contender for ‘song title of the year’ honors), in its singular vision and baleful – if steadfast – arrangement, reminds us that, despite our hubris, beauty will not be displaced, the track in the end seeming to come to the sad conclusion that, in fact, we ignore it at our moral peril. A lot of weight, perhaps, for a ‘pop’ song to carry, but in the hands of Mt. Doubt it’s borne with such grace we scarcely notice. [pre-order Doubtlands here]