After a seven-year, self-imposed exile in southern Appalachia, The Victor Mourning has returned to Austin, Texas, with a new collection of material that is sometimes quiet, mostly dark, and very southern. Their thought provoking, starkly haunting songs continue to exorcise ancestral demons and tell tales of murder, grief-torn outcasts, and confidences betrayed. With classic storytelling, soaring harmonies, and melodic fiddle, the band creates music with an old time feel filtered through a modern sensibility, at once both relevant and true to its ancient roots.
The Victor Mourning's wide-ranging influences include ancient American & British ballads, pre-WWII hillbilly music, abandoned shopping centers & empty swimming pools, cemeteries & odd museums, gasoline & matchbooks, the smell of old books, and objects made of human hair. They've been labeled dark Americana, hillbilly noir, gothic country, and dark twang with a sprinkling of 60s psych folk. Having toured nationally and received airplay worldwide, their proudest career highlight to date is being banned from performing at the Austin airport due to concerns that their melancholic, shadowy sound would unsettle anxious fliers.
Photo: Will Branch
The Victor Mourning's wide-ranging influences include ancient American & British ballads, pre-WWII hillbilly music, abandoned shopping centers & empty swimming pools, cemeteries & odd museums, gasoline & matchbooks, the smell of old books, and objects made of human hair. They've been labeled dark Americana, hillbilly noir, gothic country, and dark twang with a sprinkling of 60s psych folk. Having toured nationally and received airplay worldwide, their proudest career highlight to date is being banned from performing at the Austin airport due to concerns that their melancholic, shadowy sound would unsettle anxious fliers.
Photo: Will Branch