BIO
Great Howl is an indie rock band based in Austin, Texas led by multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Matt Mossman. Combining the quiet ferocity of bands like Low and Mount Eerie with the expansive scale of Neutral Milk Hotel and Arcade Fire, Great Howl’s music blends influences of raucous indie rock and melancholic indie folk with the elegance of chamber pop to craft songs that are in one moment dreamy and lulling and the next roaring and thunderous.
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Their first single, “Meet Your Maker” came out on September 8, 2023. “Meet Your Maker” is the title track from Great Howl’s debut EP, produced by Jake Miles of SMiiLE, which was released on February 2, 2024. Written and recorded in 2020 and 2021, the song and the album are a cathartic scream in the dark in response to the political, social, and environmental upheaval that rippled through the American psyche throughout those years. “I spent a lot of time daydreaming about the Apocalypse around that time,” said singer-songwriter Matt Mossman, “and somehow, I found that to be a relief, or at least a release. Thinking about God or Mother Nature coming back to wipe the slate clean was an escape from thinking about what was actually happening outside the bubble of my little home.”
Great Howl typically performs as an eight-piece group, pairing traditional rock instrumentation (electric guitar, keyboards, drums) with tenor saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone, and flute. Though vocal duties are primarily carried by bandleader Matt Mossman and keyboardist Kate Heron, each member of the group lends their voice to create lush, complex harmonies that harken back to early folk and spiritual music.
Before moving to Austin and forming Great Howl, Matt Mossman (vocals/guitar/autoharp/trombone) played with Los Angeles-based indie troubadours Young Hunting and the short-lived dream pop/shoegaze band Loamers in South Carolina. After relocating to Austin, Matt began to play with indie rock group Sunroom Sounds. and the internationally-acclaimed Baltic funk brass band Minor Mishap Marching Band, where he met Great Howl bandmates Robbie Preliasco (drums), Jenni Wieland (french horn), and Thom Proctor (tenor saxophone). The remaining members of Great Howl were pooled from the Austin indie rock scene, including singer-songwriter Kate Heron (vocals/keys), Spencer Carter (bass/vocals) of post-punk Americana band Gilded Lows, Pat Miller (guitar/synth) of Blair Might, and Devon Donohue-Bergeler (flute/vocals/percussion) of Yes Ma’am Brass Band.