Mountaintops (album)
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- Studio 1973 (Brooklyn)
- Tarquin Studios (Bridgeport)
| Mountaintops | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 13, 2011 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | Indie pop | |||
| Length | 37:23 | |||
| Label | Barsuk | |||
| Producer | Mates of State | |||
| Mates of State chronology | ||||
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Mountaintops is the seventh album by American indie pop band Mates of State. It was released through Barsuk on September 13, 2011.[1] The song "Palomino" was featured in a 15-second Ice Breakers commercial where a man and a woman share a cab in a rainy night.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 74/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The A.V. Club | B+[3] |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Consequence of Sound | C+[5] |
| Paste | 8.1/10[6] |
| Pitchfork | 7.1/10[7] |
| PopMatters | 5/10[8] |
| Robert Christgau | A−[9] |
| Spin | [10] |
| Sputnikmusic | 3.0/5.0[11] |
Mountaintops received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 18 reviews.[2]
Robert Christgau gave it an A− and wrote that "the wholeness of the music leaves us feeling they're more than OK."[9] Spin gave the album a 7/10, writing, "Mountaintops has plenty of upbeat romps, but the most compelling moments are the epic, minor-key laments 'At Least I Have You' and 'Unless I'm Led,' which argue that even the truest of loves can still feel lonely and miserable."[10]
Paste placed Mountaintops at number 49 on their "Top 50 Albums of 2011" list. The magazine's writer Carey Hodges said: "On Mountaintops, the band's seventh full-length, the pair delivers more of their polished pop while tastefully showcasing a handful of warped turns that partner lush synths with minor-key experiments."[12]
