News
Mt. Crushmore Records and Jared Hart are excited to present “Law of Subtraction,” the latest single to be lifted from the Friday, August 28 release of Midnight Motel, the brand new solo album from the veteran New Jersey-based singer-songwriter. “'Law of Subtraction' is about someone who's found themselves backed into a corner due to a few miscalculations or missteps from themselves or someone else,” Hart says. “In the moment, it doesn't always seem possible, but all you can do is turn around and attempt to run straight through the wall itself. Hopefully it's a little clearer on the other side.”
The follow-up to Hart’s 2015 debut solo full-length, Past Lives & Pass Lines, Midnight Motel consists of ten songs that, even by Hart’s emotionally devastating standards, hit even harder than usual. They’re songs that deserve to see the light of day because each one is a transcendent and resplendent tale of what it means to be human. There’s also a deep sense of yearning within its bones, of trying to hold on to what’s already gone while also searching for the answer as to why it’s no longer there.
Jared Hart has long been a well-respected and important name in the New Jersey alternative/punk scene. For over two decades, the Bayonne songwriter has been soundtracking the highs and lows of life through his various musical outlets, most recently with Mercy Union and as a solo artist. He also runs the influential Mt. Crushmore record label and has kept busy writing for Mercy Union or under his own name. Mercy Union’s stunning White Tiger full-length was released in 2022, and in 2024 Hart issued a stirring, heartstring-tearing EP called The Condor, a tribute to an old friend who went by that nickname who sadly passed away. The line between Mercy Union’s music and Hart’s solo output was initially blurred, but over the past few years has become more distinct. As The Condor demonstrated, the songs he records under his own name generally carry a heavier emotional weight for Hart because they’re more personal, more autobiographical, more vulnerable.
