Mountain Man: Tiny Desk Family Hour
Mountain Man: Tiny Desk Family Hour with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, live, performance, central presbyterian church, mountain man, daughter of swords, molly sarle, tiny desk, tiny desk family hour, texas, austin, sxsw, 2019
Stephen Thompson | When Mountain Man began a decade ago, it consisted of three close friends arraying their voices in a resplendent blend, often without so much as an acoustic guitar for adornment. Today, the configuration remains exactly the same, except that all three members — Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, Molly Sarlé and Amelia Meath — have developed strong solo identities along the way. Sauser-Monnig also records wonderful folk-pop songs under the name Daughter of Swords, Molly Sarlé released a magnificent single under her own name earlier this year, and Meath is the singing, dancing half of the transcendent synth-pop powerhouse Sylvan Esso.
So when Mountain Man showed up for a softly joyful set at NPR Music's Tiny Desk Family Hour — recorded live at Austin's Central Presbyterian Church during SXSW on Tuesday night — it was almost like seeing four acts at once: three solo, one collective. Choosing a single excerpt was a fool's errand, so here are three: the breezy a cappella "AGT," from 2018's Magic Ship, as well as Mountain Man arrangements of Sarlé's "Human" and Daughter of Swords' "Grasses."
