It's glorious.

One great thing about living in the middle of nowhere at my age is that I no longer have to pay attention or defend myself when an artist I love rides on the inevitable hipster-love/backlash coaster. Kim Deal's voice is cotton candy and bong smoke for the soul, and I have been in love with it since I was 14; listening to Gigantic on my way to Jennie's teen-pregnancy shotgun wedding at a backwoods bible camp in 1989. I don't really care if people think of Kim as a one-hit-wonder or way past her prime. I want to be on her journey with her. ('Cannonball' is her 'I Want Candy'; the forever pop song that conveniently allows us to forget all the truly great stuff.)

TK was a lazy, cobbled-together downer that happened to be released at what was probably the worst point in my life, and possibly hers as well if the stories are true. It seemed like a feeble reminder to hang on after 7 years, and sometimes I didn't have the energy to listen to it while I sat around waiting to die in Vegas.
But Mountain Battles is the closest the Deals have come to the simple soak-in-your-bones brilliance of Pod, so long ago.
It's very imperfect, but not in the hopeless way that TK was; this album *is* a battle. It's about loving (and laughing at) your scars, pulling out of a dark place into sunlight, remaking the weight of your past into a warm blanket.

The first four tracks are the best. Now while I'm letting it slide into me, I often just play those 4 over and over. The strangely funny and upbeat isolation in "Bang On" feels like it was written just for me. That and the euphoric hug of "We're Gonna Rise" were worth the purchase just by themselves. But the rest of it is endearing as well, because the album has a narrative. We hear Kim pick herself up and dust herself off with the first 4 tracks, and then the rest is pothead-playtime like the old days, sometimes goofy, summing up with the emotional title track.

The reviews have been very mixed, most of them seem to exalt the music but base a rating depending on where the author places themselves in relation to her and her history. It's understandable in a way. This is miles away from pop, and can sound like an afterthought on the first listen, if you aren't paying attention. But there is a reason why Kim is a notorious studio perfectionist. If given the chance, these songs can sink into your skin like the heat of a bath, and never leave.
I'll be enjoying this all summer.