Everything Everything - Mountainhead

It’s album seven for Everything Everything, and somehow they still manage to masterfully reinvent themselves. ‘Mountainhead’ welcomes listeners to an alternate society which is perhaps a dark, cautionary glimpse towards where our own might head – one with an inimitably phenomenal soundtrack, it must be said.

Conceptually, ‘Mountainhead’ is a bid to get cogs turning and conversations started – where isolation might lead, our meandering away from the environment, how the internet seems to lead us down an unfeeling, disconnected path. Nothing is out of bounds here. ‘Cold Reactor’ begins to bring these questions to the surface, but to a furiously upbeat alt-pop backdrop. Eccentric and leaning slightly off-kilter, it is questioning and yet palatable in a way Everything Everything have always excelled at being.

‘TV Dog’ employs sharp, tension-building strings, whilst ‘Your Money, My Summer’ is pleading, its riff deliciously causing the track to ascend higher and higher. ‘Don’t Ask Me To Beg’ glimmers with a growling bassline, and in true Everything, Everything style, practically shape shifts. From dancefloor breakdowns to dark prowling grooves, it is nigh on impossible to pin down.

‘Dagger’s Edge’, however, is the standout on the album – a rockier moment, it’s cinematic and dystopian as it unfurls. Its wall of percussion and frantic guitars force the carefully imagined words of the track to hit ever harder.

Their unparalleled ability to create albums that are both sonically thrilling and deeply intelligent is reinforced with this release – the rich, allegorical tale they weave is encouraged to be explored, but they hand that choice of how immersed to become in this world over to the listener. At the surface level, it’s an ambitious and quirky series of tracks to find release in. Lean closer, though, and you’ll find a labyrinth of thought-provoking ideas to fall into. Innovative and introspection-inducing as ever, this is Everything Everything reinventing the wheel once again.