| Mountain Man | |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Origin: | Bennington, Vermont, U.S. |
| Genre: | Indie, folk, a cappella |
| Years Active: | 2009–present |
| Label: | Partisan, Bella Union, Spunk, P-Vine |
| Associated Acts: | Feist,[1] Bobby, Alt-J, Sylvan Esso, Daughter of Swords[2] |
| Current Members: | Molly Sarlé Alexandra Sauser-Monnig Amelia Meath |
Mountain Man is an American singing trio of women described as "nestled in the tradition of American folk"[3] with a traditional Appalachian folk sound. They have earned acclaim from a number of music critics. They often sing a cappella, with a "sparse, haunting, hymnal beauty"[4] sometimes accompanied by soft acoustic guitar, but with their voices "virtually unadorned", according to Guardian critic Paul Lester.[5] The group toured with the vocalist Feist in 2011,[1] and New York Times music reviewer Ben Ratliff described their performance as "creating shifting harmonies" which "worked perfectly".[6]
The three members of the group are Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath. They met as students at Bennington College in Vermont and began singing seriously together in 2009.[7] (They were invited back to Bennington a decade later in 2019 to be the commencement speakers.[8])Two come from "singing families" and one got experience singing in a church choir.[7] They were influenced in part by Bulgarian women's choir music, as well as artists such as Celine Dion.[7] 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." Self-released recordings were picked up by influential blogs such as Pitchfork in late 2009, and they got a record deal with the label Partisan and others. They've been compared to the musical group The Roches.[7]
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.[7] 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.[7] They toured in Europe. One of their folk harmony songs was converted into electropop by multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost.[9]
Look at Me Don’t Look at Me, a live album recorded in November 2018, was released in August 2020.[10]
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.[11] New York Times music critic Nate Chinen described their sound as "sparse, bewitching twist on Appalachian music"[12] with a feeling of "willful, collective intuition."[13] 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".[14] 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."[15]
Other reactions include:
Sauser-Monnig released her debut solo album, Dawnbreaker, under the name Daughter of Swords in July 2019.[16] Molly Sarlé released her debut solo album, entitled Karaoke Angel, in September 2019.[17] 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.[18] In addition, Meath and Sarle contribute their vocal talents to the indie music group BOBBY.[19] In 2022, Meath and Sauser-Monnig formed The A's, who released their debut album, Fruit, in July 2022.[20]