Mississippi's Empty Atlas opening for Young Valley

Mississippi-based alternative rockers Empty Atlas are making the trip across the river for their Natural State debut on Friday. The four-piece will open for fellow Jackson outfit Young Valley at Maxine's in Hot Springs.

"This will be our first show in Arkansas, and I'm pumped," says the 27-year-old Empty Atlas singer-guitarist Micah Smith. "We love the guys in Young Valley. They're super talented."

Empty Atlas has its roots as a Smith solo project. By 2013, he'd pulled together a band and started gigging around Jackson. An EP followed a year later and, in 2016, the band made its full-length debut with Hestia, a collection of shimmering indie pop rock named after a Greek goddess of home and domesticity.

"The album stems around the idea of putting your focus on home life, and what does that mean for different people," Smith says. "For some people, home life is a really scary topic. For others, it's a big step they've always wanted to take, to have a family and a home."

Speaking of which, family and work obligations kept that version of Empty Atlas from proceeding, but Smith was soon joined by his current bandmates -- lead guitarist Brennan Michael White, drummer Bobby Hansford and bassist Alex Ingram.

"Immediately after Hestia, the new guys joined up and [writing new songs] was a pretty instant thing," says Smith, the band's primary lyricist. "I had some material and we started writing together. We've already got the sophomore album fully written."

A pair of tracks -- "Carcosa" and "Birthday" -- are already in the can, Smith says, although he's not sure about a release date: "We're trying to take it slow, but on Feb. 10 we'll be recording a single called 'Short Fiction' and that will be out within the year for sure. We're really excited about the single. It's one of my favorite songs I've ever written. We got to write it as a full band, in the moment, and it was awesome."

The band will be working with producer Nick Smith at his Dipping Vat Studio in the small town of Monticello, Miss.

"It's ridiculously cool," Smith says of the studio, whose remote location is conducive to getting work done. "It's out in the woods by itself and you don't really have a choice."

Smith, a native of Omaha, Neb., has been around the Jackson area since he was in high school.

While his influences include Florida indie rockers Copeland and Manchester Orchestra of Atlanta -- bands whose sonic imprint can be found in Empty Atlas -- there was also a little bit of hardcore and post hardcore mixed in.

"The big thing was lyrics," he says. "That was always the first thing I latched onto. There was another band, Dear in the Headlights, that was one of my favorites. They were super influential from a lyrics standpoint."

Weekend on 02/01/2018