August 04, 2023
Provided Image/Madi Napieralski
Singer-songwriter Julia Pratt, left, collaborated with Matt Quinn and his band Mt. Joy on her new duet, 'A Little Love.'
Julia Pratt released "A Little Love," a duet featuring indie rockers Mt. Joy, on Friday.
The song is an ode to heartbreak, with Pratt's layered vocals and smooth electric guitar accompanied by harmonies from Mt. Joy frontman Matt Quinn. Its lyrics, written by Pratt with assistance from Quinn and producer John Mark Nelson, tell the story of a romance gone sour, with Pratt singing that "a little love ain't supposed to be this hard."
Pratt, a singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, said she wrote the first verse of the song as a duet to a TikTok video posted by Nelson last November. The song is about the moment when people realize that they have been with their romantic partners for too long, and that "love isn't supposed to be a countdown to reciprocation."
Pratt met Quinn, who grew up in the Philly suburbs, after she covered Mt. Joy's "Dirty Love" last summer. Quinn, who heard the cover while on tour, said Pratt "has one of those voices that puts you in a chokehold." Mt. Joy then invited Pratt on stage to perform "Dirty Love" with them during a concert at the Mann Center last September.
"It was such an insane and incredible experience for me as I've been a fan of theirs for years," Pratt said in a press release. "Matt and I stayed in touch after the show, and I ended up sending him a link to my demo folder. He told me 'A Little Love' immediately caught his attention because of its simplicity and intimacy. I mentioned that I heard the song as a duet and I was completely over the moon when he asked me to be on it."
"I played it over and over and was singing it all over my house," Quinn said. "She later explained that she had always heard the song as a duet, and I shamelessly asked if I could take a crack at singing and helping finish the track up. I love this tune and I am so proud of how it turned out."
Pratt, a guitarist, pianist and vocalist with a background in jazz, has been releasing music since 2018. She has yet to release a debut album, but the her steady stream of singles over the last five years have garnered praise from WXPN and Billboard. The latter described her 2022 single "Odyssey" as an "intriguing trip."
Pratt is set to perform at the XPoNential Music Festival at Wiggins Park on the Camden waterfront in September, and at the Philly Music Fest at World Cafe Live in October. There, she'll open for electronic duo Marian Hill.
Mt. Joy was founded by Quinn and Sam Cooper, a pair of Conestoga High School graduates who reconnected in Los Angeles in 2016 and immediately began making music together. After recruiting a few other members, they released their self-titled debut album in 2018. Since then, the band has dropped two other studio albums, including "Orange Blood," released ahead of the band's tour last summer.
Mt. Joy is returning to the Mann Center for back-to-back charity shows on Aug. 12-13. The band is hosting non-perishable food drives supporting nonprofit Sharing Excess and raising money for Eagles center Jason Kelce's (Be) Philly foundation and former Eagle Connor Barwin's Make The World Better charity.
Listen to "A Little Love" below:
