About Mountaineer

There are two groups called Mountaineer: 1) Mountaineer is a copenhagen based post-hardcore band. On the 8th of august, 2013, they released their s/t debut EP. "Addressing a completely unique niche (by Danish standards), the notorious wave movement that has been picking up in popularity across the Atlantic over the past couple of years, Mountaineer immediately establish themselves as ones-to-watch with a performance that belies their short existence as a band, and songs that boast instant allure. Think a 40/60 split between European post-metal à la Devil Sold His Soul and Amber, and emotional hardcore in the vein of La Dispute, Defeater and Vales; then throw in a washing of electronica, and you should have a solid idea what sort of music Mountaineer play." 2) Mountaineer started as the project of German singer and songwriter Henning Wandhoff but soon after the release of his first album 'Sunny Day' he began to itch for collaborators, especially in taking his epic songs into the live environment. After a few years and a few lineup changes he was eventually left with the crack team of Katja Raine, Fiona Mckenzie, Anna Bertermann and Alexander Rischer and he could begin work on his third album... Wandhoff had a specific goal in mind as he pieced together the initial skeletons of 'When the Air is Bright They Shine'; he was listening to the classic LPs of the late 60s and 70s; 35-40 minutes, 10 tracks, every track perfectly composed and the album holding together without filler. There were none of those modern devices used to trick people into thinking they have got something a little more worthy than it really is... just pure pop music. He wanted to re-create this, but not make something knowingly retro, instead to put together his album with the same sort of high bar of quality control, to put together 10 songs that embodied the philosophies of those classic albums without actually mimicking them. After two years of work Wandhoff finally succeeded and had moulded the tracks into leftfield pop gems, raking in influence from decades of essential music.