Recorded in an out-of-use orphanage in the mountains of Guatemala, Mountain
Sounds is an entirely self-produced, indie-in-the-truest-sense-of-the-word
recording project comprised of two friends coming together from separate parts
of the world to realize a shared vision of rock and roll music.
The album is a testament not only to the importance and scarcity of true
creative chemistry, but also to the need to make art regardless of the obstacles
in the way. All of us were born to create; it's as natural as breath, as
necessary as food, and comforting as sleep. We grew up drawing pictures, singing
songs, staging plays - but we kept growing, and we found ourselves working in
banks, managing retail shops, selling insurance. The only singing we do now is
in cars piddling along in rush hour traffic.
'Mountain Sounds' is a step away from what we've become and back towards who we
were. Six years removed from their last collaborative recording project,
Portland, Oregon's Tim Hoyt and Guatemala's own Franc Castillejos came together
to make something vital and new in the only place they could: a vacant orphanage
in the mountains of Central America.
Former band mates separated for years by arbitrary ideas like nationalities,
immigration laws, and time zones (not to mention several thousand very real
miles), Hoyt and Castillejos found themselves discouraged and sputtering after
years apart; drifting ever farther from the life they loved, ever closer to a
life neither of them wanted. On the verge of acquiescence, they chose instead
something altogether different: a last-ditch attempt to be who they used to be.
After a summer spent recording and trading demos separately, Tim quit his
insurance job and left his home in Portland, Oregon, relocating to Franc's
family's property on a secluded patch of land in the Cordillera Alux mountain
range west of Guatemala City. The two set up shop in an old, out-of-use
orphanage on the grounds, transforming the space into a functioning studio using
what limited resources they could find.
For three months they lived and breathed nothing but their music, taking breaks
only for meals, even sleeping in the makeshift studio. The long, cold rainy
season ensured that they spent almost every waking moment in that space, working
without interruption. Their seclusion provided extraordinary focus; their
extreme limitations, an opportunity to try everything differently.
After three months, they emerged with twelve songs that showcased their distinct
voice; songwriting defined by complex catchiness, minor chord melancholy, and
sparse, deliberate arrangements. Franc's lyrics embody his unique perspective as
a man caught in the middle, a Guatemalan who spent a decade in America, who
thinks in Spanish but writes in English, who loves his home and his country but
longs for his friends in a land he's not permitted to visit.
Nothing about 'Mountain Sounds' was easy or without risk. Nothing was normal:
not where it was made, or how. Not how its creators reunited after years apart,
putting their entire lives on hold to pursue something they hadn't done together
in ages. But concepts like "easy," "safe," and "normal" don't matter very much
when you're doing what you were born to do. And with 'Mountain Sounds,' Franc
and Tim are finally back where they always should have been.
