In this interview, we chat with L.A. based synth pop duo Mount Zion about their newest project, influences, and more.
Full Q&A as well as links and streams of “Pick Me Up” and “I | L | Y” available below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
Probably the best answer to the question would be the universality of the genre. When you look at other artists who fall into the same category you see tons of different ideas, emotions and stories being told through the same genre. I think the most beautiful part of playing synth-pop or any sub genre is the fact that you can share every private emotion inside of you but then at the same time you can hide yourself behind harmonies, reverb, and analog synthesis.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
We have really only been sharing music with people on a grand scale for about a year now mainly because we just now had the guts to do it.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
In terms of musical artists that influence the band, we really love The Japanese House, Broods, a little Drake, MTNs, The 1975, and Troye Sivan. On the other hand a lot of the lyrics are inspired mainly by a journal that I (Josh) keep under my bed. As weird as it sounds I love jotting down stuff that happens to me or even things that hurt me. It could be something that has happened to me personally or even something I just heard on the news.
In all honesty, we are motivated by people who like our music. A lot of times we will encounter people who say a particular song spoke to them or sometimes people just say that it is on their morning commute playlist and that means the world to us because it tells us that we had a part in making someones life or morning a little brighter.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
Our primary goal on this project was to write honest music and to creatively explore this genre that we had little to no experience and hope that people enjoy it.
What was the last song you listened to?
Ah man… I think it was Bourbon by Gallant … that song gives me the feels in a crazy way.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I am going to have to say Vinyl! Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way hipster or anything but I just feel like in today’s day and age some of us have reduced music to a playlist that we have going in the background at our party (not that there is anything wrong with that) and we forget that music at it’s core is an experience that at times should command our whole attention and Vinyl brings us back to that age where everyone gathered around for the primary experience of enjoying the music.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Apple Music for days. Mainly because I love how easy it is to do anything. Don’t get me wrong, I had Spotify for a long time and loved it but now with Apple Music giving you a way to track your bands socials In-App, there is no contest. Also Apple has been super chill with us in the past.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
I’d say the first and foremost is time. Everyone is rushing to the next thing, people have busy lives. That has been the biggest struggle.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
Yes! We just got off a mini week tour and streamed one show. We are trying to finalize some shows in LA for this coming fall at the Echo and Wayfarer so follow our social media for dates! Those will be live streamed as well.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Hit us up on Twitter, SoundCloud and Facebook. On Twitter we post some good free music give aways and will start giving away tickets to shows as well, on SoundCloud we release a lot of songs that we are not releasing on iTunes and Spotify so you will get exclusive sneak peaks and on both Twitter and Facebook you can talk to us any time with questions and see photos of what we are up to and get exclusive downloads of our music.
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
That is a a hard question…. I guess a shout out to our Moms for giving birth to us.
