Joel Porter is a promising electronic-acoustic folk artist from North Dakota, who’s presently residing in Nashville. Along with producer Eric Hillman (Foreign Fields) he recently released the Mountain Twin EP, a collection of four haunting songs that wonderfully showcase both realms of Poter’s sound (acoustical and electronic). Arguably the finest demonstration is the beautiful “St. Anthony”, which recalls Sufjan Stevens quite a bit in both vocal tone and stylistic direction (Age of Adz for the latter sections, at least). Scatterings of calm strings linger in the background throughout, though become more a constant presence past the two-minute mark, when the track begins its second half with a stirring orchestral emotional pull. Porter’s voice floats along, though also has a powerful intensity. All other three tracks are solid, as well (especially the hook at 02:37 on “We Are Giants”), though “St. Anthony” really does it for me as a whole.
Stream the rest of the EP below:
Wow. This is definitely a music direction I haven’t heard yet. I listen to alot of M83 and blackmill and electronic and dubstep but I also love John Mayer, Sufjan Stevens, Oren Lavie and modern songwriters…this guy nails both worlds. Thank you for sharing this Mike.