This music comes from the heart and that's where it goes, directly, when you listen to it. I get very romantic and inspired when I listen to it. and i make a deep bow to the unique musicianship & songwriting of the brothers from Santa Fe. having been there (in Santa Fe) I can imagine where the inspiration fot music like this is coming from  ;)
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Nous...on aime! Le son musique du monde, la douce poésie des mots, les voix sensibles. C'est de la tendresse de l'autre côté de la montagne. A quand le prochain album en FRANCE ? Bon courage !
YES !!! we love it !!!The world music touch, the soft poetical words, sensitive voices. Everything is tender around the mountain. When the next album ? We can't wait !!!
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American folk music at its best ("a living river of stories"). Round Mountain are the brothers Robby and Char Rothschild from Santa Fe, NM, accompanied by a bass player which on this recording is Paul Brown and nowadays on concerts seems to be Jon Gagan of Ottmar Liebert's Luna Negra fame.

One of the remarkable facts about this independently produced album is the instrumentation. Robby uses bouzouki, kora, djembe, tuppan and mandola among other instruments and Char plays a 5-string banjo, gaida, bombards, accordion, clarinet, trombone, ney and the turkish saz. It comes with this instrumentation that influences from so different regions as Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, Tuva, West Africa or Zimbabwe made their way on this New Mexican folk music album. A blend certainly topping the single malt in this particular case.

Round Mountain music is not instrumental music. The brothers sing. The red line of the themes they write about lies in nature and land, the seasons they focus on are summer and fall, I'd say. The "mountain" is not described any further but when having noticed that it is an important place for them, a mountainuous landscape is around there somewhere in the imagination. While Char to me seems to be the more upbeat (confer his compositions "Judy" and "Raised Eyes"), optimistic part who tends more towards love, focusing on a woman, Robby appears to be more introspective, faithful, with a touch of melancholy, but also more political. A "lamp", "lantern", "light" "shining" in the "night / darkness" is also a repeated picture used.
The direct political statements are limited, the brothers only get political in "You cannot wait".
As I said before, the instrumental skills of Robby and Char are impressive. On a song like "Shine more light on the trees" they only make the song with a guitar and a bouzouki. Best fireplace qualities. "The dam" is underlined by a percussion part that strongly reminds you of flowing water. My all time favourite will certainly be the opening track "Unknowing", an intimate and calm song that yet has the rhythm of seconds ticking away, with Robby singing lead vocals with a soft and high voice, instrumentation: only ashiko and bouzouki. You find yourself somewhere in nature and realise the passing of time, but you have pleasantly accepted your fate. It's like this, no further answer needed.

Round Mountain is an intimate album. I'm not really feeling to share the listening with others. I need to be alone for that, watching out, looking at the meadows, trees or mountains nearby, smelling the earth, letting go down on me what happened and happens in the world and in my life, trying to find my perspective, my point, what I think about it, how I feel about it. It makes me wanting to settle down. I need to let the songs go down on me, switch out the telly and go out to lean against a tree, feeling its bark, making myself aware that this tree doesn't know any politician or popular soap opera.
Of course I could share the listening with others, but I couldn't talk whilst. Or I needed to be able to play it myself for others.
The album is for standing alone at the window looking out. Being calmed down and optimistic - consoled.
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The first thing that hits me when I listen to 'Round Mountain' is the elegance and honesty of the songwriting . It has the direct emotional appeal of a songwriter laying it on the line at the local coffee shop. There are more layers though.  As I allow myself to turn on the left side of my brain, I notice the quirky turnarounds, surprising rhythms and maybe most astonishingly the large scope of the orchestration that surround these 'simple' songs. Like Tom Waits, Round Mountain has the rare ability to transcend their eclectic influences and let the song shine the brightest. Beautiful work gentlemen!
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