Hope We Have Fun (Indie Exclusive)

On Hope We Have Fun, Mt. Joy enter a more textured world, delivering an album that is at once ambient and organic, with a strong live-in-the-room feel. Its the Philadelphia bands fourth studio set, and like its predecessors, its anchored by frontman Matt Quinns rugged voice and introspective folk-rock songwriting. It follows 2022s Orange Blood, a ruminative and laid-back set that grew out of the pandemic lockdowns. Since then, Mt. Joy have toured regularly and it shows on this albums dynamic band interplay. Hope We Have Fun is still relatively laid-back, though the group rides interesting waves of tension and catharsis within their arrangements. Opener "More More More," a casual strummer for its first two minutes, deftly builds up to a frothy conclusion, and its the first of many to play around with expectations. Lead single "Highway Queen" harkens back to the bands earnest indie folk roots, but feels dustier and more lived-in. They move full speed ahead on the raucous "Scared Im Gonna Fuck You Up," then slow to an opiatic drip on the murky "You Are Who She Loves." Mt. Joy have always been a tricky group to pin down, and they still live outside the margins here on a record that feels exploratory and occasionally captivating. ~ Timothy Monger