Norwich trio Mountain Peaks have crafted an intriguing sound that toes the line between emo, shoegaze and screamo, and they describe as “chaos, suffering and beauty.”
The band began as a studio project started by Luke and Tim after their previous band split in 2022. But it quickly expanded into a full-size gigging band after Laurence joined, and the project has rapidly evolved in terms of concept and sound.
At the time, we were all looking for a new project but without a firm idea of the kind of sound we’d be going for, having been in a mixed bag of previous bands, spanning doom to emo,” the band told us. “With enough material for a short opening set already written, we quickly got up to speed after sending Laurence the original demos. Only three months in, we played our first gig, which landed on Luke’s birthday, a fun night and a great first show to start to cement the band’s live style.”
And on the sound they’ve honed since, the band explains: “Individually, we are influenced by various hardcore/metalcore bands as well as emo, pop punk and doom. Although you’re not likely to hear those coming through too much, apart from perhaps the closing tracks of the first two EPs, we generally describe ourselves as a mix of emo, pop punk, hardcore and screamo. Our tastes also range widely in those genres, with all of us leaning more towards the mathy/technical end too, something that is starting to filter into our new material.”
Our first taste of this is Stargazers, a single from a split EP recorded with fellow Norfolk band Femme Dé. It opens up with stabbing guitars and a little guitar flourish setting up an intense opening verse of big screamed vocals and driving guitars and drums. A couple of drawn-out guitar notes give us a brief pause for breath before the intensity swiftly steps up a notch with huge guitars and drums supporting heavy vocals. It calms down with spoken vocals over lighter guitars with big rolling drums, before drawn-out guitars are followed by a stabbing riff. That tees up another section of wild vocals, before winding down with a laid-back outro.
On the track, the band told us: “Stargazers is a single from our split EP recorded and put together with our friends in Femme Dé. Our first collaborative release, backed by Asinine Records, went pure DIY with everything apart from the lathe itself being designed and put together by the bands alongside Tim and Emma from Asinine.
“The reception so far has been great, and it’s quickly become one of our favorites to play live. One of our more technical-sounding tracks, it has marked the beginning of a departure from our earlier, more pop-punk/emo-influenced material. Written entirely by Luke, we worked over several sessions getting it sounding right and letting Laurence explore some new techniques to honour the blast section Luke programmed! Eventually, we recorded it with Femme Dé in a single live session, with vocal and overdubs added later. We couldn’t be happier with how it sounded, huge shout to Sam and Alex from Femme Dé for recording us and finding the sound we all wanted for the track!” Check out a live version of the track here:
That track follows last year’s second EP The Blossoming Trees of Spring. It opens with a delicious slow-burner in Blossom, followed by the intense I Don’t Chase Anything and a personal favorite track, the shoegazey, emoey, screamoey Grey.
The Mountain Peaks sound has been strongly influenced by the screamo and post-hardcore scene, including bands like Pianos Become The Teeth, Touché Amoré, More Than Life and La Dispute.
And on what inspires them to write music, the band explains: “Tim and Luke write all the lyrics and draw from real life experiences, including being in bands, family and love. Like a lot of bands, not all of our lyrics have a specific meaning every time, but we still enjoy some of the more poetic lyrics from our second EP and continue to write drawing from many influences and themes.
“In First Days of Spring, Tim and Luke took a verse each to write about their grandmothers, leading the band’s friend Annie (from Pica Pica promotions) to learn their family even lived on the same street at different times! It’s funny little connections like these that we really enjoy, and hope we have more interesting connections through our music in the future.”
Mountain Peaks are focused on playing gigs slightly further afield to build an audience outside of their favourite Norwich and East Anglia haunts in 2025. They also have a new EP coming this year, so keep an eye out for that and opportunities to see them play the songs live.
And the band added: “At the end of the day, we’re just three dudes trying to live our best lives, make some music we like, play some cool shows and see some interesting places doing it. Along the way, we’d hopefully like to find some people who vibe with us and what we’re doing.”
You can follow Mountain Peaks on Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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