Chattanooga-based Americana band Monday Night Social have released their latest album, Chasing Light, and will be performing an album release show at Songbirds on Friday, June 5th, to celebrate the record’s release while performing the entirety of the new album live.
The Chattanooga staples have made waves in the Scenic City with their lush and layered three-part vocal harmonies, emotionally resonant songwriting, and dynamic stage presence. The band’s lineup consists of Christian Mann, Janet McGarity, and Brock McGarity as lead vocalists, with Josh English on bass and Gabriel Mann on drums.
The group has been playing together out of Chattanooga since 2015, and in 2017, they won the Road to Nightfall competition, earning them a coveted performance slot at Chattanooga's Nightfall concert series. They would go on to release their debut album, Watch It Burn, in 2019, with one of the songs from the record, "Shutting Down TN", going on to gain national radio play and becoming a fan favourite. Then the pandemic happened, halting their momentum briefly.
In October of 2023, they returned to the studio with Matt Goldman at the helm as producer and spent the next two years recording Chasing Light, finishing up final touches in November of 2025. The album is a 14-track sprawling epic, jumping from tender, reflective, and soulful tracks to rocking Americana anthems. The work sees them having evolved in their soundscape and songwriting, all while staying true to their roots, and it is their best yet.
The record starts out with “I Need Your Heart", which is a rock anthem that begins with a rollicking guitar riff before diving into more intimate vocals that ultimately lead to a huge chorus, with the lead vocalist belting out the lyrics, "I need your heart, 'cause the better part of me is next to you.” The song is a sign of things to come, a mix of beautiful, emotionally expressive songwriting with dynamic, rocking, powerful vocals, all steeped in a uniquely Americana sound.
The album goes on to feature one of my personal favourite songs on the record, “Stone in my Heart", which begins with subtle and tender acoustic fingerpicking before treating us to a beautiful mandolin solo, which is layered throughout the song. The vocals are provided by Janet McGarity, and they are equal parts haunting and soaring.
The song conveys the struggle of clinging to that last shred of hope while carrying a stone in your heart, as the track ends with the line, “I will lay it down and finally let it go.” Her vocals seemed like a blend of The Secret Sisters and Maggie Rogers, and I loved every minute of this powerful and intimate track. I could easily see "Stone in Your Heart” going on to be one of their signature hits for years to come.
Other groove-heavy jams like “The Lonely” and “Heatwave” are sure to get folks up on their feet and dancing, blending elements of country, blues, and rock to create fast-paced rocking anthems.
Tracks like “Olivia” evoked feelings of Mumford and Sons, while songs like “Words” see Janet showcasing her vocal prowess again, along with elegant and nuanced backing harmonies provided by Christian and Brock. “Words” is a softer track and another one of the highlights on the album, with brilliant lines like, “I’m done searching through all of your words for a sign between every line. Now I’m choking on the ashes of words. It was only words.”
One of the more unique and soulful songs on the record, “Killing Kind", feels like a deeply blues track that harkens back to days of old. It is funky, full of rhythm, and likely one of the bigger hits on the record. “Killing Kind” feels mysterious and eerie and is as powerful as it is haunting.
The album ends with “Sink In", starting off slowly with a breathtaking piano solo before Janet’s vocals carry us into another dimension, bereft of time and space. With lines like "Gone is that place you hide, where more problems lie; tonight I'd let it sink in. Sink until you feel, drowning in what’s real.” It’s the perfect way to end a phenomenal and evolved album, capturing the feeling of wanting to sink into the realities of life instead of constantly escaping.
As a whole, Chasing Light is a grand and awe-inspiring record, one mixed with beautifully tender songs, layered lush vocal harmonies, and rocking Americana-inspired anthems. There is an evident evolution and expansion in sound and in instrumentation from their debut album, and it is not long before Monday Night Social is touring nationally. Their music is at times haunting and intimate, other times powerful and emotional, and always chock-full of heart.
Finally, in speaking with Christian Mann of the band, he mentioned that what makes the group continue to sing, write, and perform together for over ten years is their shared love and identity as singer-songwriters, collaborators, and friends.
“We do this because we love to write and perform together. If it became something bigger, that would be cool, but we are not mortgaging the farm. We write and sing because we have to. It is who we are. We are adding shows to the calendar, but my daughter plays club volleyball on a national travel team, so I try not to miss tournaments, and Brock and Janet are expecting their first child at the end of the summer. This is a passion we share, and we are just trying to put something positive that hopefully resonates with people out into the world.”
Monday Night Social: Chasing Light Album Release Party.
- Friday, June 5. 7 p.m.
- Songbirds, 206 W Main St. Chattanooga.
- $15
- venue.songbirds.org
- mondaynightsocial.com