REVIEW: Mount Hush/Deaf Proof - "Interstellar Smoke" (Split)

By: Victor Van Ommen

 Album Type: SplitLP

Date Released: 18/12/2016

Label: Independent

Mount Hush and Deaf Proof are handing you the opportunity to tune out the world around you. You’d be a fool not to take them up on the offer.

“Interstellar Smoke” DD//LP track listing:

A). Mount Hush – “Sleeping Jupiter – Haze – Aquatic Void”

B). Deaf Proof – “Everything Dead”

 The Review:

 A split release that goes by the name “Interstellar Smoke” can’t be anything but one far out trip. Take a gander at the artwork and admire the detail used in depicting the planets and galaxy. Notice how the stars morph into the long, flowing hair of the mirrored silhouette. Only a fool would expect a release that wasn’t lush in tone or deep in groove.

 Side A is home to Mount Hush. They’re a five piece that reside somewhere far up in the Alps; because that’s the closest they could physically get to being in outer space. As is showcased with their 20 minute, side-encompassing jam, “Sleeping Jupiter – Haze – Aquatic Void,”their music takes them the rest of the way.

 The track opens in the middle of the jam. It’s as if the band had already started playing before the record button was hit. As a result, the listener is immediately immersed in Mount Hush’s jammy space rock tones which are just begging to be played on high end speakers with clear definition and a suitable low end. How the band plays loud off of soft and soft off of loud is a trip in and of itself. Luckily, Mount Hushdoesn’t use this loud/soft thing as a trick; no, they do this as a band that is listening to each other and the music that’s created. The five players allow the music to guide them rather than them guiding the music.

 At 24 minutes, Side B provides the longest cut (barely), and it’s clear that Deaf Proof ultimately have ‘the jam’ on their minds, too. However because their attack is harder than that of Mount Hush – more distortion – and the lyrical content shines a light on themes of life and death, “Everything Dead,” shifts in mood from Mount Hush’s mind trip. But lyrical themes aren’t everything that Deaf Proofbrings to the table. Before the band gets too carried away with their lyrics, their jam takes an experimental turn in adding in saxophones, keys and a synthesizer. At this point, the music is so dense and has been going on for so long, that the listener is left with absolutely no sense of time or being.  All that there is, is the music.

 Once these two tracks have come to a close there’s nothing left to do than to immediately revisit them. Go on, start “Interstellar Smoke” one more time. Dive in deeper this time. Close your eyes and discover more of the layers and the depth. Mount Hushand Deaf Proof are handing you the opportunity to tune out the world around you. You’d be a fool not to take them up on the offer.

Mount Hush track is available here and Deaf Proof track is available here

Band info: facebookdeafproof|| facebookmounthush