Mount Pressmore

It might be too soon to tell, but I’ve got the sneaking suspicion that Mount Pressmore might be poised to take over the whole damn city. Equal parts dancey pop, soul and rock, Mount Pressmore creates a soundscape that’s always interesting. Throw in the occasional pseudo-nonsensical lyrics that border on the poetic, and you’ve got all the quirk you need to carry you into ATX glory. - James Roberts - The Horn

Mount Pressmore show off their musical and mathematical prowess with their new album 'Enjoy.' The band is able to creatively write catchy songs without compromising their musical integrity. Every track is filled with rich melody and beautiful instrumentation. The single 'Trampoline' is a highlight on the album, but the musical diversity combined with the group’s strong songwriting skills makes it difficult to choose a favorite. - Brandon Callies - On Tour Monthly

Rest easy Prog rock enthusiasts; Mount Pressmore is here to keep the artsy, jazz-fusion genre alive and experimental in Austin... Listen to their epic single, ‘Trampoline’, for a very Yes-like symphonic masterpiece matched with some very David Byrne-esque vocals. - Jodi Lang - The Deli

They’ve already been compared to the likes of Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan, and Frank Zappa, not bad for a group of guys whose style of pop can be considered to be on the cutting edge. They are called Mount Pressmore, and perhaps the time in Austin, Texas has allowed them absorb a wide range of styles and influences to become what they are today. The press release calls them “chop pop”, which could lead to a number of associations and assumptions but check out what that may mean with their new album (their first), Enjoy (Pressmore). Mount Pressmore frontman Thomas Shaw is the son of Grammy-award winning musician Robert Shaw, which means that love of music came through the DNA. He may have felt pressure to create something “in the shadow of” but decided to simply make what he felt, and Mount Pressmore came to be, with Kris Studebaker, Alexei Sefchick and Danny Anderson completing the essential equation. These four know what they’re doing because it not only comes from the music they absorbed, but what they had studied during college (some of them are graduates of Boston’s Berklee School of Music and the New York Collective School of Music). Consider it “by the book”, then throwing out the book to see what surfaces. One of the things that surfaced is “Trampoline”, which has been turned into a video directed by André Costantini. While my favorite videos of 2013 have already been chosen, I think this would fit in within the list. - This Is Book's Music

Mount Pressmore are an indie jazz rock band formed in Austin in 2011, and they have just recorded their debut album, Enjoy. As the son of 14-time Grammy-winning composer Robert Shaw, lead singer Thomas Shaw has grown up around music all his life. His intent was to make a record with a lot of attention put on the composition.

The group has a style similar to The Talking Heads, with a bouncy beat in the background and lyrics that contain metaphors that are out of the ordinary. On the first single, “Trampoline,” Shaw sings the innuendo, “I’m your trampoline/Bounce high and free,” and on “Vice-Presidential Material,” he complains that he is “stuck in a leaky sweater.” Shaw makes sure to enunciate every word, and stresses important syllables. On the closer, “Dakota,” the band sounds more rock than jazz, and it includes especially precise keyboard and guitar intros. As the only female voice on the album, Erin Ivey’s backing vocals are delivered high and floaty, creating a nice contrast against Shaw’s masculine sound.

Enjoy is a reputable debut, created by someone who knows how to carefully arrange tracks, and Mount Pressmore have the potential to go far. The record has an ideal amount of technicality and accessibility.

In A Word: Precise - The Aquarian Weekly

"Mount Pressmore’s sound defies categorization. 21st century indie rock rarely conjures Perry Como but his silken tones are there along with sly purloining from jazz and Broadway. There’s a feeling to “Enjoy” that the listening point of its peak encompasses much of the entire American songbook." - Doug Hill - The Norman Transcript

"Despite such proficiency (these multifarious backing tracks were recorded live), their jazz-juiced convolution is gentle, not orotund. Pretzel Logic redux?" - Jack Rabid - The Big Takeover

"Already being compared to Frank Zappa, Steely Dan and Peter Gabriel, the 'chop-pop' of Austin’s Mount Pressmore is just that: addictive earworms played with the utmost technical proficiency. Talking Heads is another touchstone, and that band’s more intricate moments and visual style can be felt in the video for 'Trampoline' from the just-released Mount Pressmore debut album 'Enjoy.'" - Benjamin Ricci - Performer Magazine

"The quartet (local songstress Erin Ivey also joined on backing vocals) recorded the album’s 10 tracks in a speedy three days, but you’d never know it. Take “Trampoline,” for instance. It’s virtuosic, but it feels familiar. Zappa fans will hear a little bit of Frank in the song’s genetic makeup–especially in Shaw’s (pardon the pun) bouncy keyboard work and expressive croon." - Paul Carrubba - KUTX 98.9 FM, Austin

"Elastic contractions spinning flinching syncopation, Mount Pressmore’s modern, prog-tropical chords fire spidery geysers; edgy arpeggios dancing under swinging spires topping hyperbolic burrowing. Bendable tendrils of angular jazz-funk weave collegiate teasers into high-minded jams as, “Enjoy,” lays jaw-dropping chops wound around sophisticated art-rock romps; untraceable mazes mediating steamy impulses, wiry struts and cavalier cool while existential narratives navigate among howling counsel." - John Noyd - Maximum Ink

“This is as close as we get to a pop song,” says Thomas Shaw of the Austin-based band Mount Pressmore. It’s called “Trampoline” and it hails from the Texas jazz-rock savants—who’ve been called “an indie rock Steely Dan” by more than one pundit, and with good reason—and their December 3 long-playing debut Enjoy.

The tune recalls Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel’s more intricate moments, and is a fine example of Shaw’s musical pedigree, raised as he was amid technical exercises, music theory, and classical recitals. “Music was his religion,” Shaw says of his father Robert Shaw, a famed conductor with 14 Grammy awards to his name. “His obsessions were Bach’s ‘Mass in B minor,’ Mozart’s ‘Requiem,’ and Beethoven’s ‘Missa Solemnis.’ This was the music I heard most frequently as a child.” - Fred Mills - Blurt

Mount Pressmore’s debut album is set for release on December 3. On "Enjoy," the quartet "straddles the jazz-rock line with a level of proficiency that brings to mind an indie-rock Steely Dan." This description is apt, as the lineup draws together four highly-skilled players: two New York Collective School of Music grads, vocalist and keyboard player Thomas Shaw and drummer Kris Studebaker, along with two Berklee School of Music alums, Bassist Alexei Sefchick and guitarist Danny Anderson. Today we premiere "Dry Land" from the forthcoming record. - Relix Magazine