By: Hallie Horton
Mt. Joy, my love. I forget exactly when or where they came into my sphere, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they did. They’ve always brought me a special sort of calmness, a simple joy, a sense of importance. They sing about politics and religion and crushes and real-deal relationships. I only ever write about artists who keep human-ing real, and Mt. Joy does just that.
They’ve amassed over 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify in under four years, with their 2018 release, “Silver Lining,” ringing in at 54,206,568 streams. I’m telling you, these guys are the real deal. My personal favorites are “Cardinal,” which was released in 2017, and “Dirty Love,” which was released the next year. I won’t spoil these tracks and to be honest, I kind of want to leave you hanging, so just trust me. Go listen.
I’m livin’ large right now because the beloved indie-rock quintet has been teasing us with singles from their latest EP, Acrobats, since October of last year and they finally released the whole shebang earlier this week on March 17. They’ve most certainly lived up to their own legacy with this one.
The leading track, “Acrobats,” deviated from The Mt. Joy Norm. It’s a little less iclimbmountainsanddrinkbeersandprobablyknowhowtoswingdancebutamtoocoolforthat and a little more imkindofangryandprobablygoingthroughapunkrockemophase. When you listen to it you can’t help but visualize a bunch of older sad drunk lonely people passively headbanging in a dive bar. Don’t get it twisted though – it’s a vibe, and I am by no means dissing. I’m just saying…it’s different from anything they’ve release prior. It’s “off brand,” if you will. Or perhaps it’s the development of a new brand. Bands can be fluid too, people! And we’re here for it.
Oof, I digress. Just listen to the damn album. The overarching vibe is: growing-up pains. It’s about getting lost and falling in love and feeling depressed and feeling confused and moving forward anyway. Like I said, it’s human. And humans love art that’s human. It makes us feel seen and heard and together with people outside of ourselves. There’s no confusion as to why their reach has grown so far and wide in such a short amount of time. Listen for yourself.