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78. Mt. Joy - Mt. Joy (2018)

Alternative

Mt. Joy makes campfire music. It’s light, often humorous, well-written and well-sung. They’re based in LA, but their Pennsylvania roots are all over their 2018 eponymous debut, named for a mountain in Valley Forge National Park. There’s a candor to Matt Quinn’s words, as if he’s reading from a diary at times. The sound is built on an Americana frame and adorned with modest, but well-fitting modern alt-rock stylings. The songs are simple but endearing portraits of real life, finding hope in small victories and revelry in small pleasures. “Silver Linings” is packed with genuine and valuable advice, intended for just about anyone who happens to be listening.

Quinn’s vocals take center stage throughout most of the album, swaying gracefully in all directions and tinged with a trademark nonchalant slur and disregard for precision, making him all the more relatable. “Sheep” finds him bothered by the inequitable reality that plagues much of the country he calls home, lamenting the “blood on the streets of Baltimore” and pondering whether he was “born in the wrong skin”. But the rest of the album treads mirthfully, offering reassurances (“Everything’s exactly where it needs to be”), humor (“Jesus drives an Astrovan”) and promises to loved ones (“You know I wouldn’t change things, even if I made it”).

*image; cover art for the album Mt. Joy by the artist Mt. Joy