Artist

Houndmouth

New Albany, United States • Formed 2011

Houndmouth is a music group from New Albany, United States, active since 2011. Their discography on Gatefold includes 6 records.

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Photo of Houndmouth

6

Albums tracked

18

In collections

2011

Since

Biography

Houndmouth is a collaborative folk rock four-member band, formed in 2011 from the lowland plains and farmlands of Indiana, USA. The band's lyrics emphasize their foolhardiness, and their soulful harmonies carry far. Houndmouth consists of Matt Myers (guitar, vocals), Katie Toupin (keyboard, vocals), Zak Appleby (bass, vocals) and Shane Cody(drums, vocals). Folk duo Katie Toupin and Matt Myers (formerly of the Saint James Hotel) joined up with Shane

The Arc of Houndmouth

The pivots — what forced Houndmouth to reinvent.

  1. The Home-Recorded Ascent

    They started as a self-produced unit tracking their debut EP in a home studio before Rough Trade snatched them up. Ratterman helped them bottle that loose, Midwestern front-porch energy on their 2013 debut LP. You hear the dirt on the tracks, the wooden floorboards creaking, and the unpolished joy of a band singing together in a circle. It was organic, unforced, and completely detached from the glossy indie-pop of the early 2010s.

  2. The Dave Cobb Gold Rush

    For Little Neon Limelight in 2015, they teamed up with Dave Cobb at Low Country Sound. Cobb ran the sessions like a classic 1970s session, forcing them to rely on first-take instincts and bare-bones arrangements. This era defined their sound with sharper songwriting, tighter structures, and the massive breakout of 'Sedona' which rode Toupin's distinctive keyboard work and the band's ragged, perfect harmonies. It was their peak as a four-piece before the wheels started coming off.

  3. The Electronic Pivot

    After Toupin exited, Myers, Appleby, and Cody panicked and ran straight into the arms of producers Jonathan Rado and Shawn Everett for 2018's Golden Age. They ditched the acoustic guitars for synthesizers, drum machines, and heavy vocal processing. It was a polarizing, neon-soaked identity crisis that left purists cold but showed a band desperately trying to reinvent their blueprint after losing a key architect. The organic warmth was gone, replaced by a weird, druggy late-night studio experiment.

  4. The Green House Return

    They corrected course in 2021 by heading back to Indiana to record Good for You in their own headquarters, the Green House. Brad Cook came in to produce, stripping away the synthetic gloss of the previous record and restoring the acoustic foundations. The harmonies were down to a trio, but the focus returned to storytelling and vintage guitar tones. It was a quiet, mature rebuilding phase that proved they could still write a devastatingly simple hook without the major-label circus.

Influences

  • The Band — The band famously covered 'The Weight' during their early live sets and frequently cited Robbie Robertson's group as their primary structural blueprint. You hear it in the democratic trading of lead vocals between Myers, Toupin, and Appleby. It is the exact same multi-vocalist dynamic that kept Big Pink so alive.
  • Bob Dylan — Matt Myers has openly pointed to Dylan's mid-60s electric transition as his personal guitar-playing guidepost. The loose, conversational story-songs on their debut are packed with character sketches directly descended from Highway 61 Revisited. The guitar fills on 'Hey Rose' mimic Mike Bloomfield's stinging, erratic blues licks.
  • Lucinda Williams — Katie Toupin has noted Williams as a major vocal and songwriting influence, particularly her raw emotional delivery. The grit and desperate longing in Toupin's lead on 'Gasoline' is a direct line from Williams's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. It's that same refusal to sing pretty when the song demands dirt.
  • John Prine — The band paid direct tribute by covering Prine's 'Spanish Pipedream' during their early years. Prine's influence is all over Myers's lyric sheets, specifically the way he injects mundane, working-class details with dry humor. Songs like 'Penitentiary' carry that distinct Midwestern folk-storyteller DNA.
  • Fleetwood Mac — Before Toupin's departure, the band's male-female vocal counterpoint and inner-band relationship dynamics drew constant comparisons to the Rumours era, a comparison they acknowledged in interviews. You hear it in the tension of 'Honey Slider,' where the vocal hand-offs tell a story of their own. It's the classic formula of personal friction fueling beautiful harmonies.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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