Since their debut album, has crafted a body of work that merges their affinity for folk-rock textures with outstanding bridges and, dare I say, joyful experimentation. Their fourth and latest studio album, ‘Hope We Have Fun’, released in March 2025, continues this tradition.

‘Hope We Have Fun’ maintains a consistent theme throughout the album, emphasising the importance of celebrating life’s intricacies, even in the most uncertain times. This album skillfully evolves their original sound, strengthened by the unity among band members and an overall enhanced sound.

Over the years, the band’s touring experiences and musical rise have prompted deep reflection, encouraging them to push creative boundaries while preserving their optimism in both tone and lyrics in this new record.

CLASH caught up with lead singer at the Gov Ball Festival in New York to discuss their “best music” yet as the band gets back on the road for the summer.

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It’s exciting. I feel like, for us, when we first set out, this was always the dream to play to a lot of people at big-name festivals like this. Watching all weekend, seeing all the content coming out, and then we landed here on Sunday. It’s just cool to be a part of it. You can feel the energy.

You know, there are a few artists. I think is incredible. I’ve seen stuff of, heard her music, and have been really impressed. . . . All the people that we look up to. So, we’re just grateful to be a part of such a great day of music.

You know, we have a bit of a surprise by the time, I guess, people read this, we’re gonna be, for the first time, getting to play ‘In The Middle’ with Gigi as a band, which we’re very excited about. ‘Pink Lady’ is a really fun one to play as well. And ‘Lucy’, of course, to dance to.

Yeah. Pretty much! I think it’s our way of approaching some of the things that, you know, you can fear in life. Like, obviously, there are very serious things like Lucy and, you know, your health and things like that. But also, just like the fear of being judged about music or anything like that, and realising that you have this choice to be intentional about trying to control what you can control, and have fun doing it. I think that’s something that we kinda went in as a motto in making this record.

I think it’s always hard to compare songs or whatever. It’s just so subjective for what people think. For us on the inside, just where we’re at playing together musically, our communication, everything that I think really matters in the process of making something, is there.

And, you know, I think we try to be as process-oriented as possible because you can only control so much about a subjective result in terms of what people think of your music. But for us, the process just feels really, really good. We have a great connection together.

We’ve been playing together for so long, which is where that comes from, and there’s been a real comfort making this record. And we did have fun making it!

There’s a lot of joy in this record, songs like ‘Pink Lady’, I just remember laughing out loud, making a goofy song like that. I hope it comes through in the record, but if it doesn’t, internally, we feel like we’re making our best stuff.

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I think maybe, you know, some of our other records, like, have those moments as well. Acrobats on the second record is a real, like, sort of rock tinge song. I feel like we have so many different influences in this band. And whenever you’re hearing something as a fan that that sounds unique or new, it’s probably just someone in the band who’s not used to hearing their take come through more.

And that’s what has always made Mount Joy. That’s not a new thing. I think we were really lucky to have five artists who see music not completely differently, but come at it from different angles. And I think that’s what makes us special, I feel like all of those voices in some way throughout an album get heard.

It’s really good. We’re on show three, there has been two, but each one’s gotten, like, a little better. We’re getting our feet under us, but we’re heating up. It takes a little bit of time, you know, to start getting back to peak playing together. It takes a couple of shows, and we’re hitting that stride. We’ve got new songs to do it with, and that gives us this fresh energy.

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Words: Anne Carlson
Main Photo: Charles Reagan
Inset: Erica Harris DeValve

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