For Mipso guitarist and singer Joseph Terrell, the first sign that something was wrong was when he kept forgetting the words to “Louise,” one of the folk-pop quartet’s biggest songs.
“There was something that would happen onstage where I couldn't put the verses together in my head anymore,” he recalls. “And I was just, like, 'I think I am overloaded on this.' I think the part of me that wants to be honest about my own musical desires and grow as a musician and feel and believe and pay attention to what I'm making is not being fed by this.”
The other members of the band shared the sentiment, though it showed up in different ways for each of them. But it all led to one big decision that they reached together: an “indefinite break” that the band announced on May 7.
The reasons were both practical and personal: age, time, creativity, proximity, and a changing music industry all factored into the decision. To flip a line from “Louise,” there just wasn’t any more gas in the tank after 13 years as a band.
