Mt. Joy has never been a band that chases trends. Instead, the Philadelphia-bred group has built a quiet empire on raw honesty, aching melodies, and bruised optimism: a sound that feels as lived-in as it does expansive.
That same emotional clarity runs deep through their latest album, Hope We Have Fun—a 13-track journey that reads less like a collection of songs and more like a torn notebook passed around the back of a tour van, full of late-night confessions, silent breakdowns, and the kind of memories that only make sense in motion.
Released via Futures x Bloom Field Records, Hope We Have Fun marks the Mt. Joy’s fourth full-length release and perhaps their most emotionally unguarded to date. It doesn’t set out to reinvent the wheel—nor does it have to. Instead, the album offers something richer: depth. These are stories carved from post-tour blues, long-haul relationships, and the often unglamorous undercurrent of musical success.
Lead vocalist Matt Quinn, along with bandmates Sam Cooper, Jackie Miclau, Sotiris Eliopoulos, and Michael Byrnes, lays the emotional scaffolding bare. This time, they swaps out pop-rock polish for something far more enduring—an unvarnished kind of storytelling born from exhaustion, longing, and quiet resilience. The result is a record that doesn’t just chronicle life on the road—it aches with the weight of everything they carried home with them!
The album opens with familiar warmth but quickly shifts tone with tracks like “More More More,” a thunderous meditation on depression that doesn’t flinch from its shadows. Another track “God Loves Weirdos” leans into the peculiar comforts of chosen family, van-life companionship, and late-night gas station bonds.
One of the album’s most moving moments, “Lucy,” was written for a fan who reconnected with the band after their sold-out Madison Square Garden show and later shared her brain cancer diagnosis. The track became a tribute to her bravery, and a philanthropic pledge: proceeds from “Lucy” will support brain tumor research via a partnership with the American Brain Tumor Association to fund research through its proceeds.
Two standout collaborations add further texture to the album’s emotional landscape. “In The Middle,” featuring rising alt-pop force Gigi Perez, simmers with uncertainty: a soul-searching duet that captures the ache of not knowing where you stand with someone else or with yourself.
Perez’s soft intensity blends seamlessly with Quinn’s grounded delivery, a reminder that vulnerability isn’t just lyrical, it’s sonic too. And then there’s “Wild and Rotten,” a gut-punch ballad feat. Nathaniel Rateliff, that follows close behind, the two voices weaving together like two weathered hearts trying to remember how to beat in sync.
Reflecting on her collaboration with the band, Gigi Perez said:
“It came together naturally. When we wrote the song, I didn’t connect that Matt was from Mt. Joy, which is one of my favorite bands. He also wasn’t aware of me as an artist and so there was this very easy connection that felt anonymous looking back. We just hung out and it happened in a room full of new friends. When he mentioned wanting to put the song out I was so excited. It’s another side of my sonic interests and it’s an honor to get to express it with Mt. Joy.”
Mt. Joy is hitting the road for their Hope We Have Fun North American headline tour, with stops at Bonnaroo, Governors Ball, Newport Folk Festival, Red Rocks, and more. If the album is about surviving the chaos, the stage is where Mt. Joy proves they’ve made it through—messy, honest, and still standing. It’s a setting where they has always thrived: face-to-face with the fans who’ve helped shape the journey. Buy tickets here!
Hope We Have Fun is available now on all streaming platforms, with vinyl editions available for those who like their heartbreaks pressed and analog.
Connect with Mt. Joy: Instagram
Got Hope We Have Fun on repeat already? Share your favorite track and thoughts with us on X or Instagram—we’re listening. Dive deeper at Lyrical Muse for musical content!
Leave a Reply