I Build Collapsible Mountains - A Month Of Lost Memories review

The debut album from I Build Collapsible Mountains is a thing of restrained beauty. At times it puts me in mind of Damien Rice and Withered Hand, all the while retaining a unique intimacy wholly of its own. Often little more than acoustic guitar and vocals, other sparse instrumentation is intended merely to compliment Luke Joyce’s superb voice which remains the main focal point of the music throughout. Only handclaps accompany the voice and guitar in Easily Lead, and the song’s ‘days can’t start when the sky is in parts, you know I’m easily lead’ refrain will ring around your head for days. The languid, lilting Smoke & Flesh is reminiscent of the more muted moments of the now sadly defunct-and-forgotten Fields, with its soaring guitar subtly swilling around in the background.

The highlight for me however is Rails. The gorgeous melody and stomping rhythm builds and builds, never quite reaching the explosive climax you expect. Instead, it drops unexpectedly to near silence permeated only by a solitary glockenspiel. Probably best listened to with headphones in the dark, A Month Of Lost Memories is one I’ll be going back to listen to again and again for a long while yet. An excellent collection of intimate, beautiful laments.

Boab