On ‘Mountains’, Mike Bloom’s latest solo release, the longtime sideman-turned-songwriter sheds any lingering restraint and steps boldly into something raw and revelatory. Where his previous track ‘Natural Disaster’ was hushed and heartbreak-soaked, ‘Mountains’ is wide-open- equal parts clarity and chaos, a song that feels like a transmission from somewhere just above the clouds.
The track begins with an undercurrent of tension, gradually building into a sweeping, almost devotional release. There’s something beautifully unhinged about it- equal parts indie rock revival and spiritual unravelling. Bloom delivers his vocals like he’s preaching not from a pulpit, but from the middle of the road with headlights bearing down. The imagery is vivid, but it’s the feeling that hits hardest: striving, straining, reaching for something just out of view.
Production-wise, ‘Mountains’ is layered but never cluttered. There’s a cinematic quality to how it unfolds- echoing keys, and flashes of psych-tinged colour that give the song an almost hallucinatory glow. You can hear the influence of Springsteen in the big, beating heart of it all, but Bloom twists that familiarity into something more otherworldly, more internal. This isn’t nostalgia- it’s revelation.
Lyrically, the song captures a restless mind caught between surrender and survival. Bloom grapples with the weight of ambition, the futility of control, and the quiet pull of something greater. It’s existential without being heavy-handed, poetic without pretense. There’s a sly wit in the delivery- a nod to the absurdity of trying to “sing on behalf of mountains,” and yet Bloom makes it feel plausible.
What makes ‘Mountains’ resonate so deeply is its refusal to settle. It expands where it could fade, charges forward where it could drift. For an artist who’s spent years building other people’s worlds, this track feels like a declaration: Mike Bloom has his own to share now, and it’s vast, exploratory, and deeply emotive.
If ‘Natural Disaster’ showed us the storm, ‘Mountains’ is the clearing sky. Not without its darkness, but filled with that unmistakable shimmer of arrival. Whatever vault Bloom’s been unlocking, let’s hope it stays open. There’s gold in there.