''Mountain Rock'' is the third record by

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

-formed

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

band

Dear Nora Dear Nora is an indie pop band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1999 by songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Katy Davidson, drummer and vocalist Marianna Ritchey, and bassist Ryan Wise. Ritchey and Wise were previously members of Wolf Colonel. They n ...

. It was originally released through Magic Marker Records in 2004. In 2017, it would receive a critically applauded reissue through Orindal.

Composition

''Mountain Rock'' has been applauded as an "overlooked anti-folk masterpiece" and an "

masterpiece". It has also been called a "

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

folk-pop Folk-pop is a musical style that may be 1) contemporary folk songs with large, sweeping pop arrangements, or 2) pop songs with intimate, acoustic-based folk arrangements. Recording production values created a unblemished style that appealed to ...

classic".

Critical reception

''Mountain Rock'' has been welcomed with mostly positive reviews towards both its 2004 release and 2017 reissue. Quinn Moreland of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' called it Davidson's "most complex album". Moreland credited tracks "You Are a Bear" and "Oxygen & the Mellow Stuff" with anticipating

musician

Frankie Cosmos Greta Simone Kline (born March 21, 1994), formerly known by the stage name Frankie Cosmos, is an American musician and singer-songwriter. She is known for her independent releases, inspired by Frank O'Hara's poetry, DIY ethics of K Records and ...

and the "charmed beltings" of

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

duo

Girlpool Girlpool were an indie rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed by friends Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad. Their debut self-titled EP ''Girlpool'' was released on Bandcamp in 2014 and re-released on Wichita Recordings later that year. The ...

References

2004 albums Dear Nora albums {{2000s-album-stub