The Mountain Movers

Though they started in the mid-2000s as a folky, very intimate outlet for the songs of Daniel Greene of long-running indie pop group the Butterflies of Love, Mountain Movers evolved over the years into a guitar-heavy mix of psychedelic exploration and melodic indie rock, especially once guitarist Kryssi Battalene joined the band in the early 2010s. They released a series of singles that featured her fiery guitar work and Greene's searching melodies, taking their ragged sound to new realms with 2015's powerful album Death Magic. After pairing with Trouble in Mind records, the band went even deeper into distortion and drifting jams on albums like 2021's World What World. Mountain Movers formed in New Haven, Connecticut by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Daniel Greene. Previously, Greene and longtime collaborator Jeff Greene (no relation) had found success, particularly in the U.K., with their indie pop band the Butterflies of Love, who released several albums for the London-based Fortuna POP! label. By the mid-2000s, Greene had amassed a lengthy catalog of solo songs and enlisted a rotating cast of New Haven musicians to record We've Walked in Hell and There Is Life After Death, an introspective yet spirited collection that melded streamlined indie rock and elements of soul and alt-country. Released in 2006 on regional label Safety Meeting Records, it would serve as Mountain Movers' debut and was followed up a year later by the slightly heavier Let's Open Up the Chest. More disparate and psychedelic influences crept into Greene's sound with 2009's The Day Calls Out for You and 2010's home-recorded Apple Mountain. After that release, the band solidified into a steady lineup featuring bassist Rick Omonte, drummer Ross Menze, and lead guitarist Kryssi Battalene, who was also in the bands Colorguard, Medication, and Headroom. With a newly heavy guitar sound, the group began a series of experimental small releases including a number of cassettes, 7" singles, and a lathe-cut record. Following 2015's sprawling Death Magic LP, Mountain Movers signed with Chicago indie Trouble in Mind Records and began recording their eponymous sixth album, which was more improvised and experimental in nature. It was released in early 2017, after which the band toured and continued to expand their sound into looser and freer reaches, finding the midway point between the rootsy guitar-driven rock of Crazy Horse-aided Neil Young and far noisier acts like Les Rallizes Denudes. In 2018, they toured with Howlin' Rain, released an August EP titled New Jam, and in October issued their seventh album, Pink Skies. It would be three years before Mountain Movers returned in 2021 with eighth album World What World. This collection of songs was cut from a similarly noisy sonic cloth as the albums leading up to it, but leaned more into subtle dynamics as the lyrics took on a somewhat introspective and world-weary tone.
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