Mountain Man (band)

Mountain Man
Background information
Origin	Bennington, Vermont, U.S.
Genres	Indie, folk, a cappella
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Partisan,[1] Bella Union,[1] Spunk, P-Vine
Members	Molly Sarlé Alexandra Sauser-Monnig Amelia Meath[2]
Website	mountainman.bandcamp.com

Mountain Man is an American singing trio of women described as "nestled in the tradition of American folk"^[5] with a traditional Appalachian folk sound. They have earned acclaim from a number of music critics.^[6][7][8] They often sing a cappella, with a "sparse, haunting, hymnal beauty"^[6] sometimes accompanied by soft acoustic guitar, but with their voices "virtually unadorned", according to Guardian critic Paul Lester.^[7] The group toured with the vocalist Feist in 2011,^[3] and New York Times music reviewer Ben Ratliff described their performance as "creating shifting harmonies" which "worked perfectly".^[9]

The three members of the group are Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath.^[2] They met as students at Bennington College in Vermont and began singing seriously together in 2009.^[2] (They were invited back to Bennington a decade later in 2019 to be the commencement speakers.^[10])Two come from "singing families" and one got experience singing in a church choir.^[2] They were influenced in part by Bulgarian women's choir music, as well as artists such as Celine Dion.^[2] According to one report, they would sit on the porch of a shared house in Bennington and harmonize on songs they had written; when they sang as a trio, they realized it was "something special."^[11] Self-released recordings were picked up by influential blogs such as Pitchfork in late 2009, and they got a record deal^[11] with the label Partisan and others.^[1] They've been compared to the musical group The Roches.^[2]

While they make decisions as a group, often they divide responsibilities, with Meath often assuming the "manager role," Sarlé handling finances, and Sauser-Monnig deciding matters about sound quality in recordings, according to the group in an interview on NPR.^[2] They toured the country after graduating from college by riding in a car which they named Delores. Their first album is entitled Made the Harbor on the label Partisan Records (North America), Bella Union (Europe), Spunk (Australia), and P-Vine (Japan). They toured with The Decemberists and with Jónsi.^[2] They toured in Europe. One of their folk harmony songs was converted into electropop by multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost.^[12]

Look at Me Don’t Look at Me, a live album recorded in November 2018, was released in August 2020.^[13]

• 2010 Made the Harbor
• 2018 Magic Ship (Nonesuch Records)
• 2019 Mountain Man Sings John Denver EP
• 2020 Look at Me Don't Look at Me

Washington Post music critic David Malitz described their voices as "nectar-sweet" which was almost "jarring in its simplicity" with no distractions from the trio's voices.^[8] New York Times music critic Nate Chinen described their sound as "sparse, bewitching twist on Appalachian music"^[14] with a feeling of "willful, collective intuition."^[15] Their music sounds as if it's "being sung by ghosts", "spectral and spooky", when they echo "folk songs about the forest" as well as "the bedroom".^[1] National Public Radio gave a similar account and described their music as weaving "voices into a stark, reverent and unadorned sound that can be hauntingly beautiful."^[16]

Other reactions include:

Long on ghostly voices and skeletal arrangements, the music made by Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath on their Made The Harbor album – recorded in an abandoned factory – sounds like a cousin to that made in Bon Iver's snowbound bolt hole. Impressively, Mountain Man have created a music from another time and place, a closed environment they're now opening up to all.

— John Robinson in The Guardian, 2010^[17]

The tunes — despite being originals written in the last two years — sound like they could be early-century hymns, or covers of protofolk tunes gleaned from old Smithsonian field recording compilations. Mountain Man's sound would have the listener assuming its members are old-timey Appalachian maidens, rather than coeds touring in a Prius.

— Jessica Hopper, Chicago Tribune, 2010^[11]

Sauser-Monnig released her debut solo album, Dawnbreaker, under the name Daughter of Swords in July 2019.^[18] Molly Sarlé released her debut solo album, entitled Karaoke Angel, in September 2019.^[19] Amelia Meath is a member of the electronic duo Sylvan Esso which has released four full-length albums, the most recent being No Rules Sandy, released August 2022.^[20] In addition, Meath and Sarle contribute their vocal talents to the indie music group BOBBY.^[21] In 2022, Meath and Sauser-Monnig formed The A's, who released their debut album, Fruit, in July 2022.^[22]

• Mountain Man website