Mirador, the new band co-founded by GRAMMY Award-winning Greta Van Fleet co-founder Jake Kiszka and Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin, announce their debut album, the self-titled Mirador.
“Mirador comes from a deep passion for rock ‘n’ roll, early folk, and country blues as well as folklore,” says Turpin.
“Our world lives in those traditions,” Kiszka adds. “There’s an unspoken mysticism. You can trace it back to the stories of meeting the devil at the crossroads, selling your soul, and losing your mind to the wind. Mirador definitely inhabits a lot of that. We’re hyper aware of our lineage, so we can build our own future as a band. It’s two guitar players from notable groups coming together to create a new mythology. As soon as we were in uncharted territory, we knew we were doing something right.”
Mirador also share their first single, ‘Feels Like Gold’, the first song the band has ever released. The band shares about the new single, “‘Feels Like Gold’ is set against the backdrop of conquest and imperialism, in an era marked by global friction and war. The song weaves together themes of cultural collision, the relentless pursuit of riches, and the complexities of history. Yet, amidst the darkness of war and dogged determination for expansion, it offers a message of hope for a unified world and an understanding beyond violence.”
Mirador has the uncanny ability to conjure sky-shaking and boundary-bursting rock ‘n’ roll by invoking spirits of ancient myth, traditional folklore, and Delta-born blues in one concentrated musical incantation. Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka not only shares vocal and guitar duties with critically acclaimed co-vocalist and guitarist Chris Turpin of Ida Mae, but he also shines as a producer and songwriter, stepping out on his own. The group, filled out by Mikey Sorbello on drums and Nick Pini on bass & keys, stretches the limits of rock ‘n’ roll and showcases the band’s myriad influences and uncompromising vision.
Kiszka and Turpin met in 2018 when Ida Mae opened for Greta Van Fleet during a sold-out three-night stand at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, MI. On the road, Kiszka and Turpin cemented their friendship by way of late-night jam sessions fuelled by wine and a shared passion for everyone from Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin’ Hopkins to Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch, and Fairport Convention.
“We were like long lost brothers,” says Kiszka. “After we wrote those songs, I realized we had a chemistry I’d never had with anybody but my own brothers. It was obvious we needed to do this.” The world got to know Mirador when they spent a month opening up Greta Van Fleet’s Starcatcher World Tour in arenas coast-to-coast throughout 2024. Galvanized by this nightly trial-by-fire, the band rolled right into a Savannah, GA studio with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Dave Cobb [Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton], and they cut Mirador live in barely two weeks.
“After four weeks on our first tour, we went to the studio,” says Turpin. “By the time we got there, Dave harnessed a lot of the intensity and frenetic energy from the road.” Kiszka adds, “if we didn’t cut our teeth in the most intense circumstances, I don’t think the record would have the same spirit.”
‘Feels Like Gold’ introduces the album with rumbling guitars breaking like a wave against its towering chorus, “and it feels like gold.” On ‘Fortune’s Fate’ a turbulent guitar groove tosses and turns before spilling over into an emotional crescendo, “there goes my shadow to the one I love.”
Elsewhere, ‘Heels Of The Hunt’ launches forward on a rapid-fire drum roll, while wild riffs chase goosebump-inducing vocals through a bluesy haze. The finale ‘Skyway Drifter’ opens with finger-picked accents before breaking open into a cathartic breakdown.
“For me, it would be beautiful if this is all-consuming for listeners—like when you see a movie at the cinema,” Kiszka concludes. “We’re trying to immerse people in the world of MIRADOR and where we’re coming from. There’s so much duality in the album: the humanity, the soul, the adventure, the tyranny, and the journey. It’s a very important record for us, but also in terms of what has gone down in the world of rock ‘n’ roll today. We hope you feel like you belong to this place as much as we do.”