“Pick a card,” the Hannah brothers asked over an Instagram message. An image of three tarot cards placed face down on an altar was sent with the message, each one unknowingly from the suit of Swords. They shuffled the cards, set their intentions and let their audience play the game.
The Ace of Swords, Four of Swords and Two of Swords can take on different meanings for different people, but the cards also seemed to apply to them. This became more than an introduction for their latest single, “For Those Who Play The Game”; it became another sign that their musical journeys were changing course.
Mountain Head does not sit down and write music often, but a little more than a year ago, an altered state jam session brought out a guitar riff that seemed otherworldly. Without a word, they both began playing the riff, moving in sync in a spiral motion. Suddenly there were a few words: for those who play the game.
“We weren’t thinking this or intimating it,” Kyle said. “It was almost funneling through us… this seemed like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh was reading us a scroll and we were singing the song and looking at each other mind blown.”
Within 15 minutes, “For Those Who Play The Game” was written. They brought the song to their drummer, Kevin Farmer, who witnessed the way the song took over their bodies as they played it. There were several other songs they were working on at the time, but they pushed them aside to make this one their main focus.
Their subconscious was picking up on something. Ceremonial altered states are rituals they are familiar with, and they are aware that there is no roadmap in those scenarios. This time, it felt like they had stumbled upon an ancient story forgotten to time. They’ve spent time researching theology and ancient cultures, believing that is unconsciously being funneled into their music.
“We had this bridge of music in between old and new and we just blew up the bridge,” Ben said.
They agree it was the oddest song to make its way to them, but it seemed as though it had a purpose. Since then, an entirely new style of music keeps showing up whenever they pick up their instruments. They compare themselves to an antenna just picking up the songs, joking that they aren’t sure if they can take songwriting credit.
“For Those Who Play The Game” continued to reveal itself to them in different ways as they immersed themselves in the recording process. It was more of a ritual than a song, and they wanted to make sure they sought out everything they could before deeming the song complete. They sent it off to be mixed and mastered, and the engineer’s first response was to compare it to Dante’s Inferno. It appeared that whatever brought this song to them was revealing itself to others.
It also revealed itself to their music video director, Monty Langford. Usually the brothers will provide the song to the director with no other context. This time, it really worked in their favor.
“So many times with Monty, we’ve sent him something and what we’ve left in the silence he’s picked up or taken even further,” Ben said. “[Kyle and I have] a lot of experience with psychedelics and ceremonial use of psychedelics, so he wrote this video as if it was the cameraman going through an initiation we do.”
The music video treatment came to fruition when Langford decided he actually wanted to go through with one of their ceremonies. As wild and odd as the music video is, it’s almost a documentary now.
When it came time to release the song and its accompanying music video, they knew they wanted visuals that gave off an occult aesthetic. Throughout their musical journey, tarot cards The Fool and The Magician have presented themselves, and one late night thought led to asking their audience to pick a card.
They knew they were onto something when the message received mixed reviews. It seemed as though half their audience picked a card, while the other half refused. Those responses played well into their messaging.
“The thing about this song is it’s right on the edge of whether you are going to step through your fear or not,” Ben said. "It's what the whole song is about: are you going to step through the fear? What’s on the other side of that fear?”
For the first time, they have been so engrossed in writing that for a moment they’ve forgotten about performing. However, that hasn’t stopped them from fantasizing about turning these stream-of-consciousness jam sessions into a live performance. They hope to one day have no-setlist shows that feature songs only written in the moment, never to be recorded or performed again.
“The last six months or so, we’ve been wondering, ‘how do we show our real power out there? Our real form.’ It’s really hard to present this,” Ben said.
“Creativity is happening in the moment,” Kyle added. “We can show you that immediately. The recording is in the past; you’re going into a loop in the past, kind of the antithesis of creativity. That stuff isn’t happening now. Here’s us showing you as close as possible to the moment of how it’s done and being able to reflect the energy of the environment.”
It appears that “For Those Who Play The Game” is the beginning of a new era. Mountain Head is no stranger to peculiarity, but this song started stringing together something that is quite unlike anything they’ve done before. They followed the scent of this first song, leading them to a place that should answer all of their questions.