Psych-pop quintet Milagres is always getting into trouble. Sometimes it's small trouble, like running out of gas, and other times, it's big trouble, like the time front man Kyle Wilson hurt his back during a mountain-climbing expedition, an experience that helped him write the band's sophomore album, Glowing Mouth. Filled with sparkling falsetto vocals and atmospheric choruses, the record mirrors the drama of the experience and the healing process that followed.
I spoke with Wilson about the band's music and its latest tour, which stops at the High Noon Saloon March 31.
I heard you composed part of Glowing Mouth while bedridden after a rock-climbing accident in British Columbia. How did this experience shape the album?
I wrote many of the songs in an almost stream-of-consciousness way. Much of it was written on a vast glacier surrounded by jagged, icy peaks, and much of it was written in a claustrophobia-inducing apartment in Brooklyn. I like to think that it has the tension between both of those worlds in it - the beauty I was engulfed by and the perspective I gained from surviving in such a remote place.
What about Glowing Mouth makes you most proud?
We were really excited to work with Osso String Quartet, as well as Sebastian Krueger from Inlets and Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz, who play with the National and Beirut. All of them helped to bring our orchestrations to life. We had never had the opportunity to work with such talented players in the studio before.
How do you keep your wits about you on the road?
We have a lot of what I call "Type 2 fun." It's not fun when it's happening, but it's fun when you look back at it later. Running out of gas, getting locked out of your hotel room for hours or accidentally running over your guitar - these are all examples of Type 2 fun. You have to keep a sense of humor to get through it all.
