M. Ward

It's a Merge two-fer tonight at the 40 Watt Club, where revered Pacific Northwest folkie M. Ward and Carolina alt-country act Mount Moriah will perform. We've got a pair of tickets to give away. To enter, tell us in the comments below why YOU deserve to go for free. We'll choose a winner today at 4:30 p.m.

From this week's paper:

The cover of Mount Moriah’s sophomore album, Miracle Temple, shows a barn on fire. Despite the implied chaos, there’s a sense of calmness to the rest of the image; the artwork underscores that even in the midst of radical change, there is beauty to be found.

When one compares the Chapel Hill, NC-based three-piece to its members' earlier projects, it seems it has set out to extinguish fires, moving from cacophonous metal and post-punk into more traditional, calmer, country-inspired sounds. The band’s lead singer, Heather McEntire, was formerly a member of the punchy Bellafea but made a conscious effort to step into a more vocally lush project this go-around. 

Guitarist Jenks Miller divides his time between Mount Moriah and the experimental metal band Horseback, also stationed in North Carolina. For Miller, Mount Moriah’s latest offering isn’t a radical departure from his other, heavier work. 

“To my ears, Miracle Temple has a harder edge to it, and thematically there's a more foreboding sense of darkness,” he says. “It's also a more confident and forceful record than the debut.”

Read the rest of our feature on Mount Moriah.