Mt.Ida

Photo Cred 📸 : @jaredcwood

It’s in the heaving air of winter where we often find our most solemn moments exhaled before us. The vaporous gasps we can’t hold back seem to exist if only for a handful of seconds, before merging with all and vanishing from a perceptible realm. It’s the inherent sanguine nature of winter, everything around us dies, the cloying and desperate grappling of life succumbs to the turn of the year. Mt.Ida, one of Philadelphia’s finer exports in our scene, mirror this and in response extend a warm hand in defiance of it.

“Between the Ashes” strums something familiar, a guitar tone not unknown to many of us, but instead of affording its common stark and bleak nature treat it as kindling, building tension and friction. Echoes of the legendary Raein should only be heard as just that, as the track lifts itself into comfortably melodic and hopefully resonant bass, complimenting drums that crackle and endure. Half-tempo spoken word seeks out understanding, empathizing with the unforgiving iciness of uncertainty. Screams that connect in anguish are actually a call to live as repeated choruses of I believe in life (again) / I believe in life (again), invoke the wishes of what many of us wish we had said sooner.

I’ve been eyeballing Mt.Ida for quite some time and attempting to counteract my shifting impatience for new music with the belief that they would bring something as wonderful to the table as their 2021 self-titled debut. It’s not with smug satisfaction but a confirmed joy that I can tell you they have in fact kept us waiting for good reason. “In Silence” drops in full on December 15th, with tapes coming out from some of our favorite labels, Oliver Glenn Records and Jean Scene. Make sure to grab one as they are sure to go fast.

Check out their previous single “Sacristy” on Bandcamp : Mt.Ida

Writer : @letsgetpivotal

Editor : @just_reidz

11/27/23