The EP CDr by Baltimore five-piece Secret Mountains contains five tracks of lovely indie pop. The Rough Trade crowd should be all over this, and the 23 minutes of “Kaddish” make for a lovely change after zoning out to analog synth experiments or after coming to terms with the latest batch of claustrophobic noise. Kelly Laughlin’s gleeful vocals, the laid-back slide guitars and brushed percussion all make up for a sound that is reminiscent of Beach House, minus the shoegazing elements. It’s not all breeze and sunshine, then, as the title track zones out in brooding guitar drones, and “Gate/Gate/Paragate” steers towards a climax of urgent guitars in a Built To Spill manner. All in all, “Kaddish” may not be gnarly enough for the average FD reader, but it is a varied, enchanting debut all the same. 7/10 --
Jan-Arne Sohns (25 August, 2010)