Mountains Like Wax creates fluid, Southern post-rock that balances noise with ambiance perfectly to blur typical genre lines.
The group consists of three MTSU students: Mitchell Taylor, Preston Vaughn and Samuel Katz, whose creative talents are only overshadowed by their humility.
“We kind of all just fell into it really naturally,” Taylor, rhythm guitarist and vocalist, told Sidelines over coffee about the band’s formation.
Mountains Like Wax has been receiving well-deserved recognition for their music. They just released their first EP, Tetralogy. It was released through Watermain Creative, an immersive artist development collective that was founded by close friends of the band and members of Afterlife Parade, Quinn Erwin and John Potts.
Tetralogy is backed by intense emotion, not at any point rushed or self-important. It moves beyond a musical project to convey patient storytelling in honest form. It’s spiritual “mountain music” without being overbearing or campy.
“Yeah, I mean, as cliché as it is, so much of it has to do with relationships and family and you know, learning, I guess, what’s important while you’re growing up and what people and things to focus on and what things are sort of unhealthy and things you should put behind you,” Taylor noted about the EP.
The band cites bands such as Mansions, Local Natives and Seahaven as inspiration, but claims Erwin as their biggest influence.
In addition to the three student musicians’ creativity, is their ambition. The group has played around 65 shows in the past year. They began by playing house shows around Murfreesboro.
“It definitely helped us out with our live set absolutely just ‘cause so many people that go to house shows around this town are energetic and get into the music a lot,” Vaughn said about the experience.
“One thing we definitely learned about playing house shows and stuff is that if a crowd is awesome, it’s awesome and it helps a show go really well,” Taylor added. “But if a crowd’s not awesome then it can kind of turn a negative aspect on a gig.”
It’s clear the group has gotten where they are with hard work from the ground up.
“I think, as a band, we’re very observant and we play shows, and… learn from others’ mistakes and just know what to say and know what not to say,” Katz said.
You can find Tetralogy on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Amazon Music.
You can pick up a copy at their Nashville release show at The East Room on Nov. 12, featuring Still Sightes, Afterlife Parade and fellow MTSU student, Julien Baker.
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To contact Lifestyles editor Rhiannon Gilbert, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com
