This is no time for the tortured artist. Right now, we're living in two worlds at once. The first is a death-driven monoculture: cutthroat, cynical, exploitative, literally deranged. This is the dominant, unlistening world, the unmoved mountain. Then there's the other world: the still-breathing, idealistic, and wholly life-affirming underground. Mountain Moves is a celebration of the under-sung communities that have nourished us with their joy, their energy, their individualism, their "pointless" beauty. Starring the singing, playing, and songwriting of guests whose musical and political voices we admire, Mountain Moves is partly an ecstatic snapshot of a would-be utopia. Fragmentation is more than an aesthetic. One moment your head's exploding over the stupidity and sadism of our leaders and systems, the next your favorite singer has just emailed you a vocal track recorded in their hotel room on tour. Mountain Moves explores the extremes of despair and hope that make up so much of our minute-to-minute experience. We met a lot of crowds this year, at Brazilian music festivals, arena shows, protests. The power and potential of a crowd is like music itself - inspiring, healing, urgent. We made Mountain Moves fast, in hopes of capturing some of that communal energy. Please dance and sing along.
