Pitchfork

Glory Hope Mountain, the album from Ottawa's the Acorn due this fall, is said to be a song-cycle based on the life of lead singer Rolf Klausener's Honduran mother. This track suggests she encountered some heavy weather in her native country. We're used to floods in songs being metaphorical, but here we have the real deal: Over pounding drums, handclaps, and chants, Klausener sings, "While picking snails from the river of the valley/ Don't see the storm clouds piling up so quietly." The song swells along with the cresting waterline, folding in bits of electric guitar inspired by West Africa and more layers of clattering percussion, eventually building to an epic and satisfying finale.