Mynolia Shares “Take The Mountain By Surprise,” Written and Recorded in One Sitting

Mynolia has been releasing songs from her debut album at a steady clip. “Needle,” “Run Like Hell,” and “Holy Line” arrived first. The fourth, “Take The Mountain By Surprise,” lands ahead of Salt Around My Bed, due January 15 via Full Time Hobby.

The Nashville singer-songwriter says the track was written and recorded in one sitting, and the circumstances explain the speed. A severe rainstorm had washed out part of the mountain road to her house, leaving a natural boundary between her home and everything beyond it. “An act-of-God natural boundary formed between my home and the outside world and it was exactly what I needed,” she says.

The guitar part has an older origin. It grew out of an unusual tuning she had used years earlier for a casual song called “Sweatpants And Straitjackets.” The B section of that throwaway became the foundation here, and the lyrics, parts, and instrumentation followed at once. She then took it to Florian Holoubek for drums and Rich Ruth for final production, mix, and synth flourishes.

The line she cites, “I wish the creek would rise, take the mountain by surprise,” frames the song’s argument. Making yourself small so others find you easier to digest, she says, usually has an expiration date. A song can hold that boundary when the weather will not.