To: Dave
Love: Adam
Date Sent: 9/12/2019
Mt. Joy – Mt. Joy (Self-titled)
Release Date: March 2nd, 2018
Another self-titled album here, but I also had to think about what bands/albums have been in heavy rotation for me and this one stands out. I was playing these guys in the background when you last came out to Raleigh to help with the apartment and although they’re great background music, I doubt you really had a chance to listen to the music during that visit.
As you know, they’ll be at Cats Cradle in a couple weeks and I will be going. The slow nature of this band seems to fit the intimacy of Cat’s Cradle, but I also think they are going to surprise some people with how good they actually are. I truly cannot articulate what makes this band so special to me, but I think it’s just a general feeling I have when listening to their sound. Their catalog contains just this one album, so there aren’t a ton of songs to corroborate this feeling I’m describing. But for a debut album, the music blends enough styles to really keep the listener wanting more. For example, from Bigfoot to Sheep to Julia (#4 – #6), I hear a switch from something like rockability, to regular ol’ indie rock, to almost jazz/blues just over three songs.
This is something I have really taken notice of in the music that we listen to. I really like to see what kind of roots that artists make a point to incorporate into their own sound, especially newer or younger bands like Mt. Joy. To further this point, I would look to a band like Steely Dan who just exudes musicality and has the ability to eclipse so many different moods/genres in just one song or project that really makes you just take a minute to stop and appreciate what your ears–and other senses–are experiencing. Some favorites from this album are Bigfoot, Sheep & Astrovan.
Fun Fact: I mentioned the two guys who started the band (childhood friends) were both on track to be lawyers and just picked up and switched back over to music. They launched Mt. Joy with Astrovan as their first single and amassed a crazy number of listens overnight, thus leading to the creation of the band and subsequent album.
The Favorites:
Adam: Bigfoot
Dave: Astrovan