Fish on the Mountain

Fish on the Mountain can be gentle and quiet, heavy and gloomy, or defiant and loud; sometimes, they can even be all of the above within a single song. Drawing inspiration from the old-time music of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the USA, as well as today’s contemporary folk scene (Nora Brown, Gilian Welsh, Lankum, Lisa O’Neill), the band alloys old with new in its repertoire, playing traditionals, covers, and originals. Their songs always focus on the telling of stories: stories of life, of suffering and of collective resistance. The Pace of these Times tells of what it means to try to get by in this shambles of a world. It delves into the loneliness in which we fight our battles and the despair that overcomes us time and again. But the album also asserts that this isolation can be broken, that our battles can be fought together. And that we still have a world to win. All the songs on the album were written over the last three years and were recorded by Manuell Rindlisbacher in February 2024. In contrast to their debut recording The First Mind, almost all the songs (apart from Step by Step - Pete Seeger) are original compositions. The Pace of these Times is sometimes acoustic, sometimes experimental, but always heart-rendingly earnest. Collaborations from guest artists ebb and flow through the undulating swell of the album, as the Fish venture also into newer musical waters with partly electronic sounds.