A Contemplation on Species Self-Awareness: Mt. Joy on The Green, Shelburne VT, August 2023
Graphic by Bianca Cormier
By Bianca Cormier
The air is light with a refreshing mist. It’s been pouring for the past 3 hours but the clouds have finally passed. You’re still blissfully unaware that in two hours you’ll be trudging through deep mud as the “Cha Cha Slide” plays, your delicately chosen outfit soaked. Right now, it doesn’t matter because the crowd has just finished counting down and the first few ticks of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” have begun. With the grueling four hour pilgrimage from Boston behind you, Mt. Joy takes the stage in Shelburne, Vermont at The Green and everything’s all right.
I’ve seen Mt. Joy live four times now, my first show back in October 2021 at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston. Their show has become familiar, but with each time they’ve only gotten more spectacular. A congregation of nomads, the atmosphere of their shows are dizzying and freeing. I must admit, my experiences have been more soul-stirring in indoor venues, but I would never pass up a chance to dance in the rain with my favorite band and my best friends.
Taking on a new structure for this tour with no opener and two sets, the band offers a journey of love, grief and hope with tracks from each of their albums. Rearrange Us, unfortunately, is frequently given the middle child treatment! Nonetheless, the addition of “Strangers” and “Bug Eyes” were my favorites from the chronicles of loss, acceptance and growth that is Rearrange Us. Opening with “Sheep,” a song I first connected with at age 15, the band acknowledges not belonging and the daunting feeling of helplessness in this big fucked up world. Surrounded by hundreds of people who felt the same way, I was transported back to my first listen on a cramped bedroom floor. From a kid who saw no light at the end of the tunnel to living in Boston now, a little older and somewhat wiser, with a better grip on life’s steering wheel.
As the first set continues among swiveling hips and various substances floating with our spirits, I turn to my best friend Izzy and shout, “This is my Grateful Dead!” Colorful graphics illuminate the stage– dreamscapes and psychedelic windings through mountains and cities that play on the themes of each song. The most poignant, to me, was a raised hand covering the sun. It’s a nod to their newest album, Orange Blood, and the title’s inspiration; lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Quinn once shared that the concept came during an acid trip as they held their hands up to the sun and noted the tangerine color shining through. The visual is reminiscent of Jerry Garcia’s right handprint or George Harrison’s Living in the Material World album cover. Each very commanding, flipping your experience inward and leveling with those around you. Notably, the band’s physical stage placement has sustained their last few tours and this predictability was comforting. Their stage presence is heightened instead by the production and its fierce lighting.
Mt. Joy also features the sounds of guitarist Sam Cooper (who absolutely shreds), pianist Jackie Miclau (who takes us from A-Z and back again seamlessly), Michael Byrnes (who slaps the grooviest bass) and Sotiris Eliopoulos on percussion (who shook the core of the earth with one of his solos - a bit of Samba?!) I was happy to bear witness to yet another rock interlude and some notoriously blended covers. Among the classic “Jenny Jenkins” and “Dirty Love,” Set One gave us “Let Loose,” which included a (suggestive?) indie rendition of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” Later, some songs off of Orange Blood, including the title track and “Ruins,” which featured The Velvet Underground's “Oh! Sweet Nuthin” and Pixies’ “Where is My Mind?” following “Bug Eyes.”
After another brief tangent of rock, Byrnes and Eliopoulos make a discreet exit. It's the point of the night where the jumping fades to swaying, the energy shifts to love. It’s time for “Bathroom Light.” Those around us hold their loved ones tightly, understanding that the moment is fleeting. Following the ballad, Quinn is left to solo “Younger Days" and this part got very existential for me. Folk rock has held me together through the spiral that was last semester’s health leave. I’ve been back in business for a month now, in need of Mt. Joy’s resuscitation. Living on the cusp of adulthood, between the high schoolers running for barricades and those content with a warm seat in the field, rattles me. Quinn’s own lamentation affirms this feeling and he ends Set One on a hopeful note. The words “I always wanted to be free / In the simple way / I found in all those younger days,” holding my younger and future self through all her highs and lows.
After a short break, Set Two arrived with a burst of energy. The next eleven songs came mostly from their self-titled debut album, Mt. Joy. Preceding “Mt. Joy” was a wildcard snippet of Frank Ocean’s “Ivy.” Later on, a trip through “Julia”’s Elysian Fields found us stumbling through a medley of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” and Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Miclau’s piano skills elevated the entire show, at this moment, we were floating. Quinn took some time to acknowledge the venue and state of Vermont– stirring up some trouble with the Patriots fans, inviting us to meet our match with his native team in Philly. Before we knew it we had reached the set's end with “Silver Lining,” a song that garners hope for better days.
“Tell the ones you love you love them / Teach only what you know”
“Wear that silver lining / Wear it close to your skin”
It’s hard to put into words what Mt. Joy means to me. Looking back, their music has saved me. “Acrobats” calms me in times of panic. “Look alive, don't hurt yourself, touch your body / Realize your surroundings / Count five things in the room / Cause no ones dying soon.” “Witness,” rarely played live, was played at the Strand in Providence, December 2021, just days after I lost someone dear to me. (I take it as a sign that everything was falling into place) “Orange Blood” with some lyrics in native tongue, Portuguese, was released on my birthday. How nice of them to fuel my delusions! On a serious note, their music has helped me put meaning to the loss and hurt. It provides company through the good and the devastating alike, the will to keep feeling.
If you ever get a chance to attend a Mt. Joy show, do. Show up, shake off your worries, contemplate 21st century species self awareness and feel it all. As their finale “Astrovan” assured us that August night, you’re not alone. Or, at least “we’re all alone together.”