BEHIND-THE-ALBUM: MT. JOY'S 'HOPE WE HAVE FUN'

Hope We Have Fun is out now!

Image: Caity Krone.

Philadelphia and Los Angeles-based indie-rock band, Mt. Joy have dropped their fourth studio album, Hope We Have Fun. We caught up with the band to unpack the collection of songs and more.

Congratulations on the release of your fourth studio album, Hope We Have Fun. It’s been three years since the release of your last record, how do you think your artistry has evolved since working on that album into what we hear on Hope We Have Fun?

I just think getting to play together in front of such amazing crowds here has pushed us. I feel like the more we get to play together and make mistakes together the more we learn and evolve. We’ve been lucky to have some incredible opportunities these last couple years and we’re better for it.

The album is rooted around relationships, and traces the life-force of the band. There’s an intimacy embedded  throughout the collection of songs, capturing being a working musician and living life on the road. What drew you to documenting and exploring the themes explored across the album?

For us, the last couple years we’ve put everything behind this band. It’s become our whole lives. So, I think pretty much every emotion - love, loss, fear, etc are inevitably going to be seen through the lens of this experience of being on the road, trying to see out a dream. There are real challenges in that pursuit that at first seem unique to being in a band, but the deeper you drill you realize the problems and pain we have are pretty universal; it's just the perspective through which you experience them that changes. 

Sonically, the album leans into a more experimental stage for Mt. Joy, fusing together threads of folk and rock whilst also opening up your established palette. When working on the album, how did you set out crafting the album's sonic realm and leaning into previously unexplored sounds for the band? 

This part, I think, just comes naturally by listening to each other. Even if a song starts out as an acoustic ballad, we never pre-determine what it will sound like once everyone in the band reacts to it. There’s so many amazing musicians in this band with totally different backgrounds on this album so we just never wanted to be stuck in one place. Everyone’s just trying to make something they think is cool. It’s fun because I don’t know what the next project will sound like, but I think limiting ourselves into one genre space wouldn’t be the best use of everyone’s talents. 

You’ve worked with Gigi Perez on In The Middle and Nathaniel Rateliff on Wild & Rotten. What drew you to collaborating with them, and what do you think they brought to their respective tracks?

Gigi - I was fortunate enough to get to write with this past fall. We had no idea we were making a song for Mt. Joy. We just sat down to make a song we loved which could be for anyone. Gigi is a star so that certainly helped a ton. But I had never done anything quite like it and we were surrounded by super talents who helped round out the song like Joe P, Rob Bisel, Amelia from Sylvan Esso even sang some background vocals. It was an incredible hang that turned into an amazing song especially once Mt. Joy members got to play on it too and really make it our own. 

Nathaniel - We got to meet on tour and play a few shows with. He’s a singular talent as a songwriter, singer, and frontman. He really is someone we look up to. When he agreed to help us out with this tune we were so grateful, he just makes songs sound timeless. Talent like he has will shine in any generation, I really believe that. 

When it comes to writing and creating, particularly when working on Hope We Have Fun, is there a distinct collaborative creative process that flows through the band?

MJ: For us, the reality of making an album is that the only time we have to make it comes in our relatively short breaks in between tours. I’m always writing as many songs and lyrical ideas as I can and then use that time to meet up with the band to work on those songs, but also to jam and see what songs we can come up with together. Once we’re together it’s all hands on deck trying to make the best 10-15 songs we can. This cycle, Jackie brought an amazing idea that turned into God Loves Weirdos. So, even though I’m writing the lyrics by the time an album is done, it has filtered through everyone in the band's creative perspective in some way, which I love. 

How did the album evolve throughout its initial stages, to the body of work we hear today?

MJ: Yeah, we made it over the course of 2 years in between tours and some of the songs like Coyote and More More More were songs that we didn’t quite get right in the first year of recording. So, we kept plugging away, but it took us sitting together multiple times for hours over the course of a couple years to finally click things into the right places. Whereas, songs like Pink Lady and In the Middle were largely completed in one day just jamming in the studio. So, it really depends which is something that’s been a constant for me in songwriting. You never know how long it’s gonna take, you’re just along for the ride until you feel like you got it right. 

Which three songs from the album would you play to someone who has never heard your music to make them an instant fan?

MJ: Tough one. At the moment, I’d say In The Middle, Lucy, Pink Lady - but that’s hard!

Which lyric from the album do you find strikes you the most when listening back to it now?

MJ: “Try not to give into fear, if you make too much of nothing you might disappear.” Opening line of the title track Hope We Have Fun. It’s really just a mantra for me and my anxiety. The spiral can be real and scary and when I get healthy mentally I often can see that I am tripping over myself and my fears and insecurities more than any real substantive obstacle. 

You have spent the majority of your time together as a band building yourselves as a formidable live act. What have been some of the most important lessons you have learnt from life on the road?

MJ: I think for us just a combination of learning how to push ourselves and stick together. The road makes you tired, and when you’re tired it can be hard to push yourself to learn a new song for a cover or jam idea. But in the end constantly pushing to improve is what keeps your brain fresh so you’ve got to find the right balance. Then just knowing that we need to stick together through the inevitable BS that pops up. And also I’d just say utilizing everyone and showing off every part of what makes us worth seeing. We’ve got world class musicians all across this band and finding space in the live show to showcase that keeps us all engaged and makes the show more fun for us and hopefully the crowd too. 

You’re currently in the midst of an extensive North American, how have you gone about bringing Hope We Have Fun to a live context and curating your catalogue into a setlist that best represents Mt. Joy at present?

MJ: That’s been really fun just seeing which new songs work and building out extended moments on some of them. It’s always a work in progress but I think we’ve found some really cool moments with the new songs already. 

You’ve yet to tour Australia, do you have any plans to hit stages down under?

Definitely would love to get over there and I feel very confident it will happen soon which is super exciting! None of us have ever been to Australia so we can’t wait!

Finally, with the album being called Hope We Have Fun, what is something you do collectively to have fun? (Perhaps from an outside work viewpoint)

MJ: We love nature, getting outside, hiking stuff like that. We've got some soccer fans in the band. So, we love kicking a ball around and staying as active as possible. But the Mt. Joy thing takes up most of our time for now, and I think it’s fair to say we’re having the most fun we’ve ever had. The shows have been incredible hearing fans sing the new songs is pretty special this early in a cycle. It feels really good so fingers crossed!!

Hope We Have Fun is out now!