Beginning with their 2010 EP, “The Letting Go”, North Carolina’s Mount Moriah has been a steady, subversive force in the state. The band’s members have backgrounds in punk and heavy metal, but deliver sharp, twang-tinged rock music together as a unit. Heather McEntire, who fronts the outfit and writes the band’s lyrics, pens moving songs that ache and soothe as she sings about heartache and redemption. A crucial part of Mount Moriah’s songs has been the idea of a conflicting Southern identity: loving the place you call home, but sometimes clashing with dominant cultural politics or mindsets. The band transforms those sometimes ugly skirmishes into utterly stunning songs.
The band delivered two excellent records with 2011’s Mount Moriah and 2013’s Miracle Temple and, in February, their third LP will arrive via Merge Records. “Cardinal Cross,” the first single from the forthcoming new release titled “How to Dance”, is a strong, scorching tune that ponders supernatural and astrological elements. Jenks Miller, who crafts most of Mount Moriah’s intricate and intriguing guitar licks, explains that the song’s theme is based on an astrological phenomenon called the Grand (or Cardinal) Cross, which represents the intersection of personality traits that seem to conflict with one another.
The Fat Angel Sings 