Mt. Desolation is the debut studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by English alt country duo Mt. Desolation

Mt. Desolation

Mt. Desolation are an alt-country duo from England.It is the side project of Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin, members of the rock band Keane.Their self-titled debut album was released on October 18, 2010....

, released on 18 October 2010 in the United Kingdom and on 19 October 2010 in the US. This is the first album by the side project of the band Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley

Tim Rice-Oxley

Timothy James Rice-Oxley , is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as co-founder, the principal composer and pianist, backing vocalist of piano rock band Keane.-Life and career:...

 and Jesse Quin

Jesse Quin

Jesse Joseph Quin is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as the bass and percussion player of the British rock band Keane. He is the youngest member of the band.-Life and career:...

.
The album leaked to the Internet on October 11, 2010.

Track listing

• All tracks written by Tim Rice-Oxley
  Tim Rice-Oxley
  Timothy James Rice-Oxley , is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as co-founder, the principal composer and pianist, backing vocalist of piano rock band Keane.-Life and career:...
  
   and Jesse Quin
  Jesse Quin
  Jesse Joseph Quin is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as the bass and percussion player of the British rock band Keane. He is the youngest member of the band.-Life and career:...
  
  

Bonus songs

Most pressings of the CD only include 11 songs (Halo of Fireflies, hidden after Coming Home, is not listed on the back) however some extra songs have been released, either on special pressings of the CD, or digitally.

• The Barnes and Noble version of the album includes 2 bonus tracks, "Emily" and the demo for "Bitter Pill".
• The iTunes
  ITunes Store
  The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
  
   version has "Wherever You Were Going" listed as track 11.
• The Amazon MP3
  Amazon MP3
  Amazon MP3 is an online music store owned and operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management from the four major music labels , as well as many independents...
  
   version has "Coming Home" and "Halo of Fireflies" listed as two separate tracks, and includes "Pushed Around" as track 12.
• The song "Your Kind of Life" is part of the live setlist of most Mt. Desolation
  Mt. Desolation
  Mt. Desolation are an alt-country duo from England.It is the side project of Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin, members of the rock band Keane.Their self-titled debut album was released on October 18, 2010....
  
   gigs, but hasn't been officially released.

Reception

The album was met with generally favourable reviews, with the Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 thinking of it, when compared to Keane's Night Train

Night Train (EP)

Night Train is the sixth single by the British pop group Visage, released by Polydor Records on 11 June 1982. It peaked at number 12 in the UK and was the band's final UK top 40 hit until a remix of their first hit "Fade to Grey" was released in 1993....

, as a "more convincing vehicle for their undisputed melodic gifts" and citing "Bitter Pill" as a highlight.

BBC Music

BBC Music

BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

 called the production "fittingly delicate and unfussy, with no oppressive effects" and commented on the singer's voices, saying "Rice-Oxley and Quin [...] both sound a little shy", but welcoming the "intermittent, effortlessly harmonising female vocals".

Virgin.com

Virgin Group

Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...

, however, wasn't as enthusiastic, giving the album a 6 out of 10, and argumenting that "Mt. Desolation’s self titled first album is a mixed bag of charming country inspired tunes and hard to take seriously line dancing tracks", before adding that "the self gratifying love for the music that has been created makes this collaborative country collection well worth a listen despite the odd rogue."

Chart performance

Chart (2010)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	140
US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Heatseekers Albums Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...	10