SOUNDTRACK: MOUNTAIN MAN-Tiny Desk Concert #824 (February 13, 2019).
I had only heard of Mountain Man from an earlier Field Recordings Session on NPR–back in 2012! Since then the individuals have all gone to different successes but they have reconvened for a new album and this Tiny Desk Concert. We’ll also be seeing them at Newport Folk Festival this summer.
Mountain Man is endearing. And they are so quiet.
Mountain Man is the perfect band for a Tiny Desk concert. These three women make the most intimate music; and behind the desk, the voices of Amelia Meath, Molly Erin Sarlé and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig were the stars. Adorned by only light, rhythmic acoustic guitar, they sing songs that conjure a simpler life: dogs, friends, moonlight, sunlight, skinny dipping, beach towels and sand.
These dear friends have known each other for more than ten years, since their college days in Vermont. They released their first album in 2010 called Made The Harbor and only recently had a follow-up with the pleasantly surprising, 2018 fall release of Magic Ship.
They play three songs. “Rang Tang Ring Toon” has a two note guitar melody from Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. While she plays, she sings the first verse. Then the other two join in (that’s Molly Sarlé on the really high notes). It’s a very simple guitar melody–so simple that when she plays a kind of solo (also very simple) it really jolts you out of the gentle melody.
There’s a true kinship that happens in this trio. Things get quiet, sometimes funny and playful or, at moments, awkward, especially when they talk about “savory oatmeal.”
It’s Alexandra who talks about the savory oatmeal (with wild mushrooms, fried garlic, poached egg and chives). It was delicious–although Molly says, “I had a different thing.”
For “Moon,” Molly plays guitar. Her playing is more strumming. She sings very high and the others join in. One fascinating thing about most of these songs is the nonsense syllables they sing. Obviously the first song (just the title alone), but even this one has a refrain of: “Dai dai dai dai dai dai dai dai.”
For the last song Amelia Meath (yes, of Sylan Esso) sings a capella. Before the song she says she’d like to dedicate it to “all my NPR crushes–anyone who works at NPR who has looked me in the eye and asked me questions about myself.” The song starts with all of them humming. Then Amelia sings and they accompany her with their hums until they all sing amazing harmonies. It’s all so quiet and sweet, you just want to lean in to hear them better.
In the eight years between Mountain Man records, Amelia Meath went on to create Sylvan Esso with Nick Sanborn. Molly Sarlé, meanwhile, was in a meditation center in California — at a cliffside trailer in Big Sur — and worked on her own, beautiful solo album, which is due out soon. And Alexandra Sauser-Monnig worked with Hiss Golden Messenger, released her own music under the name ASM and has a new record coming as well. There’s a tour about to happen, and hopefully they won’t vanish after that for another eight years. There’s no other band like them.
[READ: February 12, 2019] “The Confession”
The confession in this story is a rape.
The narrator is the rapist. He can’t reveal his name or the rural village where it happened because his father is a feared and respected man and he doens’t want to bring shame on him.
The summer this happened, the boy says his father didn’t want him to be idle, so he was sent to the countryside for hard work with the villagers. The villagers were illiterate and there was no electricity. He was bored out of his mind. The only entertainment was the story that the boys all told about a girl from the area who had been rejected by her clan because of her sexual behavior.
One afternoon he went with one of the older men to the plains to gather grass for the animals. The man treated the boy with deference because of the boys father, but he did show him how to do the work efficiently.
Then they both saw off in the distance, a young woman crossing the plains. They both imagined it was the girl from the stories. So immediately the man ran up to the girl. She didn’t react to the man–she was too tried to resigned to her fate, He threatened to hit the her if she screamed and then he tore of the girl’s harem pants. He then presented the girl to the boy like a gift. (more…)
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I’ve had Sylvan Esso on my list of bands to see for a while, even though I’ve never been a huge fan of the band. I like a lot of their songs, but I don’t really listen to them all that much.
I Just Read About That... 