by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
For the better part of the last decade Portland via Boston’s Space Mountain aka Cole Kinsler has been releasing solo albums of hard worn folk music and dusty indie rock, the type that feels like a beam of sunshine on the otherwise creaky wooden floorboards. The recording project feels deeply personal but atmospherically universal, the ruminations of one mind offered for the contemplation of others. Celestial Force, the sixth album under the Space Mountain moniker, finds Kinsler collaborating with Will Henriksen and Rachel Saltzman, lending violin and saxophone, respectively. Due out September 17th via Kinsler’s own Dust Etc label, there’s a wide expanse to the twang and rust of the songs, portraits of vast landscapes with a certain sense of stillness and a calming presence.
Lead single “Good Lies” is a song that reflects on the climate change catastrophe and the hope that humanity will come together to remedy the path we’ve set out for ourselves. A bit of hope mixed with lies that we tell ourselves in order to move on from day to day, Kinsler captures the feeling of helplessness and hope together in rationalizations over brushed snares, intricate acoustics and Henriksen’s delicate violin accompaniment. “Good Lies” has a front-porch fullness to it, with each piece carefully layered to create the bigger picture.
Speaking about the song, Kinsler shared:
“This song was originally intended to be overtly political but ended up being more about humans in general and the fictions we tell ourselves in order to live. Some are pretty trivial, but others will have existential consequences. One thing that may or may not end up being a lie is that we will ultimately come together in solidarity to avoid climate catastrophe. We have almost no choice but to believe that right now, otherwise we would just give up. It felt like a good opening for the record to establish that we (myself included) are kind of pathetic and vulnerable in an almost funny way, but also we have the capacity to change and rise above our circumstances.”