Mipso share splashy, wry track “The Numbers” ahead of 6th LP | Tour starts in August

Today, North Carolina based indie-Americana folk quartet Mipso share splashy, 60s surf rock-inspired track “The Numbers” out everywhere now. The band’s propulsive sixth studio album Book of Fools, is due out August 25. The album is now available to pre-order digitally here and on vinyl here. Plus, the band embark on a n extensive tour across North America beginning in Portsmouth, NH on August 17 with tickets on sale now via mipsomusic.com/tour.

“The Numbers,” out today, is a rhythmic, wry, finger-wagging observation of the market-obsessed culture that permeates American society. Inspired by NPR’s Kai Ryssdal and his signature phrase, “Let’s do the numbers!,” the band wonders how tracking the daily economic tea leaves became a veritable religious observance for the ruling class. Fiddler and vocalist Libby Rodenbough recalls hearing an Iowan voter on TV discussing presidential candidates and saying, “I like the incumbent because the stock market’s doing well.” Rodenough says, “I looked around at this cruel place where we live and I felt forlorn that the NASDAQ offers anybody any kind of comfort. How do I know things are bad? Because I feel it, and I see it.” The notion that the success of the stock market had very little to do with the actual lived experiences of everyday people laid the foundation for the groovy, slick “The Numbers.”

Book of Fools, the forthcoming sixth studio album by Mipso out August 25, sees the band at their most assured, guided mostly by their own intuition and less impacted by time constraints, expectations or outside forces. Over ten cohesive tracks, driving rhythms, earnest, thoughtful lyricism guide the band back to their roots and who they are at their core. As guitarist and vocalist Joseph Terrell puts it, “‘Book of Fools’ feels more relaxed, more confident, more us – like we’re wearing our favorite clothes and telling our favorite story and it feels exciting again.” There’s a fresh, solid confidence and profound understanding of one another that radiates through the music. It’s this palpable connection that can only come from this group playing together around the world several hundreds of times and it’s here they rediscover their joy and unmatched connection as musicians and as best friends.

The previously shared “Carolina Rolling By” is a relaxed, country-tinged groove that tells the story of a down-and-out pill-popping truck driver trying to get back on his feet. Written in part as a love letter to driving around their home state, Mipso’s signature layered, poignant harmonies paint a vibrant portrait of the view out of the driver’s window–the deep, clear blue sky with the sun beating down and the crisp air floating by. Terrell says the song came about after a boating accident that led to him needing to take painkillers during recovery. Similar to previous Mipso releases, the track finds beauty in pain and allowed Terrell the space to craft the ode to driving through North Carolina that he’s always wanted to make. It was during his recovery that the song materialized. Terrell says with a fresh understanding of the power of pills, “I couldn’t walk for 12 days but I had my grandma’s guitar and some hydrocodone and worked on this song I think because I fully understood for the first time how anyone could get addicted to those.”

No Depression called it, “a peaceful summer groove on the surface with a story in the lyrics that cuts much deeper.” Americana UK added the track is “a wistful rumination.” “Carolina Rolling By” has been widely supported by several streaming platforms, including placements on Amazon’s Fresh Folk & Americana, Spotify’s Fresh Folk and Apple’s New in Americana playlists.

Formed in 2012, Mipso began as a pastime between classes in Chapel Hill, NC. Made up of Joseph Terrell (guitar/vocals), Jacob Sharp (mandolin/vocals), Wood Robinson (bass/vocals) and Libby Rodenbough (fiddle/vocals), the group blends their music-filled upbringings and captivating harmonies to create a sound all their own with tinges of the timeless musical traditions of their home state and hints of jazz, strings, and old Americana. Mipso’s acclaimed debut album Dark Holler Pop, produced by Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse), arrived in 2013 and quickly turned the recent grads into a full-fledged touring band and solidified the group as one to watch. With 2015’s groovier, poppier Old Time Reverie, Mipso earned a spot at the the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a number one spot on Billboard’s Bluegrass chart, and honed their sound as they deepened their near-telepathic musical and on stage connection.

The band’s Brad Cook-produced (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) 2017 effort Coming Down the Mountain, expanded their sound with drums, bass and a pedal steel. This refined, elevated sound resulted in a wildly popular title track and landed them on Rolling Stone’s 10 New Country Artists You Need To Know list. Just when the band wasn’t sure if five years of near-constant touring was something they’d wish to continue, 2018’s Edges Run took off and eliminated any doubt. It spawned an instant fan favorite in “People Change” which has garnered over 104M+ streams on Spotify alone. PopMatters encouraged listeners to, “Let its tried-and-true virtues—from intricate harmonies to magnetic musicianship to splendid storytelling—soak in before feeling an emotional rush that you’ll want to experience again and again.” The band’s self-titled, fifth album arrived in 2020 where the band explores the trauma of a near-fatal car accident and find refuge and healing in each other with a moodier, more experimental soundscape. Paste Magazine praised the project’s warmth and their ability to find beauty, joy and harmony.

Now, in 2023, with Book of Fools on the horizon, Mipso looks to strengthen their sound and rekindle their bond yet again, led purely by their love of making music together. The band will bring the new music and longtime fan favorites on the road across North America this summer and fall beginning in Portsmouth, NH on August 17. After dates in Woodstock, NY, Richmond, VA, and Louisville, KY, the band will move through Nashville, TN followed by four dates in their home state of North Carolina. They will then move through the South throughout the end of October before making their way up through the Midwest, including Chicago, IL. By Early November, the band will make their way through Canada including Toronto, ON, Ottawa, ON and Montreal, QC. Next, Mipso will make their way back through the East Coast including Burlington, VT, Boston, MA and Brooklyn, NY before wrapping up in Philadelphia, PA on November 19.

The finger-wagging, 60s surf rock-inspired track “The Numbers” is out everywhere now. Mipso’s driving, layered sixth studio album, Book of Fools, is due out August 25. The album is available to pre-order here and on vinyl here. See Mipso live this summer and fall across North America with tickets on sale now here. Connect with Mipso on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and stay tuned for much more to come.

Listen “Carolina Rolling By”

Mipso Bio

Mipso formed in 2012 as an excuse to play music between classes in Chapel Hill. Joseph Terrell came from a family of banjo-playing uncles and a guitarist grandma, and he’d gotten curious again about the string band music he’d heard as a kid. Jacob Sharp was raised on equal parts Doc Watson and Avett Brothers in the mountains of North Carolina and he was hunting for a chance to sing some harmonies. Wood Robinson added a Charlie Haden-esque interest in bridging jazz and grass sensibilities on the double bass, and Libby Rodenbough soon joined on fiddle, unsatisfied by her classical violin training but drawn like a moth toward the glow of old, weird Americana. 

Their first album, “Dark Holler Pop,” produced by Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse), included Terrell-penned fan favorites “Louise” and “Couple Acres Greener” and turned recent-grads Mipso (“let’s try this for a year,” etc.) into a full-blown touring band. Although it hung out on the Billboard Bluegrass top 10, its sonic mission statement was in the name: “Dark Holler Pop” was groovier and catchier than its string band contemporaries; its unabashed poppiness belied the songs’ durability and depth. 

2015’s “Old Time Reverie” earned them an invitation to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade wherein they rolled down 5th Avenue on a 12 foot bucket of fried chicken. They got to have breakfast on the green room bus with Pat Benatar and Questlove, but in hindsight the whole experience was a little beside the point. They doubled down on touring, playing upwards of 175 shows a year, honing a telepathic, sibling-esque connection onstage. 

2017’s “Coming Down The Mountain,” produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) added drums, bass, and pedal steel and put the band on bigger stages with an expanded Americana sound, including the Rodenbough-fronted title track, another streaming hit and live staple. 

Mipso considered hanging up their hats in 2018 while recording “Edges Run” with Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco, Anais Mitchell). After five years of near-constant touring, they had started to wake up in hotel rooms wondering what state they were in; they’d never had pets. The album took off. Sharp’s intimate vocal on “People Change” floated into dorm rooms and coffee shops across America, cementing Mipso as a bona fide streaming success across four albums and placing them in that rarefied strata of bands with three distinct lead singers: The Band, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, Sonic Youth, The Wailers, The B-52’s, Phish, Mipso. 2020’s self-titled start-fresh album on Rounder Records brought experimental Canadian producer Sandro Perri into the mix and minted a collection with moodier landscapes and unexpected textures such as “Hey, Coyote” and “Big Star”. 

Post-pandemic Mipso is starting fresh again with “Book of Fools”. The songs might be their best yet: “Carolina Rolling By” shows Terrell at his most relaxed and confident while the band turns a story of a pill-popping truck driver into a meditative cosmic country-tinged head bopper. “The Numbers” flirts with 60s surf rock while Rodenbough winks and wags a finger at our market-obsessed culture, and “Broken Heart/Open Heart” features Sharp at his most heart-wrenching and earnest. Other standouts “East” and “Radio Hell” will infect you with earworms made of guitar riffs, Robinson’s pretzel-twisted upright bass lines, and saturated “ooohs” drifting in as if on AM radio waves.

Rock, country, indie-Americana: genre descriptors try but miss the point, which is that these four people and only these four people could’ve made this album. Only a decade in the van could’ve made this album. Only four personalities held in sustained, frictional balance could’ve made this album with its sizzling energy and unlikely cohesion. Mipso did it again. These are searching, driving songs from a band that’s still trying to say something different, still going somewhere new.

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