Over the past two years, we’ve been graced with a steady stream of alt-folk records from the newly minted Mtn Laurel Recording Co., a label launched by songwriter Elijah Wolf in 2023. However it became something of a tradeoff, with Wolf’s own solo music career pausing the same summer he began ushering material from his peers into the world. “For most of my life, I dreamed of starting my own record label,” Wolf shares of his ambitions. “Helping other artists with their music has been one of the most beautiful and fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had.”
But a recent set of live dates opening for Julian Lage helped get the creative juices flowing again after two years, leading to his first new single since launching his label: “Texaco Lights.” “Playing solo guitar night after night awakened something for me,” Wolf recalls of his experience playing live shows again. “I got that same exciting feeling of discovery I had when I first started playing music. When I got back to New York, I was showing my friend Felix [Walworth, of Told Slant and Florist] some demos on my laptop and stumbled on a half-finished song. We decided to finish it together.”
Co-produced by Walworth, the buzzing bedroom-pop cut recalls the era of Brooklyn’s indie scene that wrought bands like LVL UP, albeit softened a bit for the more folk-forward era that would follow as many of these artists headed Upstate. “I’d been thinking a lot about my hometown Upstate, the sense of both community and solitude I felt as a kid, and the different paths our lives took over the years,” Wolf continues. “I wanted to capture that in the song. For the video, my partner Elle and I went up to the county fair where I spent my childhood summers. I really sank into the nostalgia of that place while she captured it all on camera. It felt like a meaningful full-circle moment.”
You can watch that full-circle moment take place below.
