Formed by Philadelphia natives
Matt Quinn
and
Sam Cooper
,
Mt. Joy
are an affable indie folk outfit with a lightly scuffed, retro tone and a whole lot of earnest intention. Friends and musical collaborators since their high school days, several years of college and career detours parted the two friends until 2016, when they both found themselves living in Los Angeles. The reunion soon sparked a wealth of new material, which they began recording with Detroit-born producer
Caleb Nelson
under the banner of
, in a nod to their Pennsylvanian roots. Their first two singles, "Astrovan" and "Sheep," offered a laid-back mix of bluesy folk-rock grooves and road trip-worthy songwriting that immediately struck a chord with fans who streamed the tracks several million times in their first year. Those songs, along with their easy-mannered third indie single, "Cardinal," form the heart of
's self-titled debut on the
Dualtone
label. Behind
Quinn
's soulful introspections and
Cooper
's rootsy electric riffing, the band run through a baker's dozen of amiable tunes that meld the stompy indie folk grit of
the Lumineers
with the cleaner pop-oriented folk of someone like
Vance Joy
. Throughout the set,
explore the anxieties, trials, and exuberance of contemporary twenty-somethingdom with big-hearted shout-outs to "the drugs, the women, the wine, the week, the love that took everything I own" on the anthemic "Silver Lining." They band also cover the bases of romantic balladry like the faux-Philly soul of "Julia" and the strummy ode to "Jenny Jenkins." Overall,
manage to attack each song with the requisite tools of the tonal folk-rock zeitgeist. ~ Timothy Monger