Traveling a road that’s taken them from a duo to a whiskey-stompin’, indiegrass five-piece before paring back down to two, Kali Giaritta and Matt Harmon threw a wedding in the mix to seal the deal and followed a steady diet of DIY home recording and consistent touring. Making music their lives, from The Ascetic Junkies to today’s There Is No Mountain, it’s no surprise that the husband-and-wife team are back with a new approach—one that applies to their continual sonic evolution as well as the way they plan to distribute new music and share it with their dedicated fans.
Sea of Storms artwork by Kali GiarittaYour first taste of both comes in the form of Sea of Storms, the first of three EPs—each with three songs—that’ll be released over the coming months. Named for “one of several ‘seas’ on the moon,” Harmon explains, the songs "are both sonically and thematically stormy.”
Whether the male or female vocals dominate while the energy levels fluctuate and intensify throughout each song, there’s an authenticity that stems from the fact that these tracks mimic the psych-pop mashed with Americana live experience that TINM have honed while touring as a duo.
“It's probably the best indicator of the energy and sound we've been able to pull out of our very minimal instrumental setup: acoustic guitar running through effects pedals, a motley collection of toms and snares with dishtowels muting them and assorted hand percussion, piano and organ sounds, and our voices,” Harmon says. “Recorded with our live setup, each one is built around a live take of the guitar and the drums.”
Live tracking was done at The Map Room while vocals and minimal overdubs were added at the pair’s home studio, where Harmon also mixed and mastered the record. “These are pretty faithful to the live show,” he explains. “We feel like, more than anything we've ever created, these songs are songs that could only really have been created by us. They really came together over the months we spent touring together and honing our duo arrangements and reliance on each other's musical strengths.”
With two more three-track EPs on the way, each “will be named after one of these seas” on the moon before being resequenced with three additional songs to create a complete album: Luna.
“We're working with the moon theme because a lot of these songs deal with heavier, darker themes in our own lives, and we've spent a lot of time walking around at night, sharing a joint and gazing at the moon, drawing a sense of perspective and peace from it in times of chaos,” Harmon says.
So start with a “few shorter glimpses of the songs” that will ultimately complete Luna by listening to Sea of Storms below. And while the last two years “were tumultuous for us, learning what our bodies and spirits can and can't handle one city at a time,” Harmon says, the band cannot wait to get back out on the road—and you can support them to do so.
“We just launched a Patreon campaign where fans can pledge a monthly amount as low as $1 to get all of our music and videos and to keep us touring and recording,” Harmon explains. Patrons will also get early access to the upcoming EPs as well as special perks for those who pledge a bit more. “The dream is really to get back on the road and do There Is No Mountain full-time again,” Harmon says, “so we're always looking for ways we can make that a reality.”
Backer or not, everyone can celebrate the release of the new EP on Friday, March 13 at 7pm in the comfort of their own home because TINM will be performing a live set featuring the three songs from Sea of Storms via Concert Window. After that, they’ll head to Boise for Treefort with more Northwest touring planned for spring, plus a week-long Al’s Den residency is already in the books for late August with more local dates coming in between.
