Psychedelic folk rock duo, Cobalt Chapel will release the follow-up to their eponymous debut album, Mountain EP, on 1st June, through Klove, and have shared the title track from the EP Mountain. They recently played This Is Psychedelia festival, following a series of live dates with their band in 2017 including the Courtyard, Tramlines and Green Man festivals (Eerie, spellbinding – The Quietus)
The title track, Mountain, was inspired by the band’s surrounding Yorkshire landscape and its history – folk tales, local anecdotes and real life; the harshness of past existence in comparison to modern day comforts, the neighbouring stone and those who carried it, and the ground they trod on the well-worn moorland pathways. The accompanying visuals were filmed in the South Pennines – on a characteristically dramatic day!
Cobalt Chapel began working on Mountain EP during a period of change for the band; Cecilia was planning a move from London to the rural North-West, and the overarching theme of the EP is of solace in the natural world, of space, and solitude. This is reflected in their haunting and expansive sound; Cecilia’s layered, choral vocals and Jarrod’s ever expanding collection of organs and effects – Philicorda, Vox Continental, Hammond, Korg, Wem Teischord, Ace Tone, Elka Space Organ, Hohner Symphonic, Armon Selmer and Mellotron.
Cecilia was looking back over the year’s events – notably the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, and the experience of having spent life until now in the capital. ‘Canticle’ was written from the perspective of having been personally affected by terrorism, and the ability to emerge from the fog of distress that these incidents can cause. The song is a dark rallying-cry of hope against the spectre of these violent attacks, and an exploration of escape, through nature, from the anxiety and intensity of city life.
Bohemia is a much lighter, frivolous fantasy – a choir of women in an imagined pastoral scene inspired by a family connection to the Czech Republic, filtered through a love for odd European soundtracks.