Mt. Kili – “The Noticer”

The album “The Noticer” brings a quiet kind of folk music to life with genuine warmth and quiet honesty. Recorded at Echo Mountain Studio in Asheville, North Carolina, the tunes mix fingerpicked classical guitar with rich vocal harmonies. Rick Sichta started writing these pieces at home for his twin daughters, and that personal feeling stays alive even with the full studio setup. Drums, violin, and extra instruments join in to make quiet moments sound huge and cinematic. Every track flows naturally across the entire tracklist, including “Don’t Start a War”, “The Noticer”, “The Rain Song”, “The Road Isn’t as Long as It Seems”, “Her Song”, “Kyle”, “The Weather Report”, “Scars”, “Strawberry Fields”, and “All in Good Time”.

Two songs completely steal the show, and “Her Song” is an absolute favorite with its quiet, two-voice meditation style that stops you right in your tracks. Another huge favorite is “Kyle”, a touching memorial song written for a friend who passed away too young. The emotional richness on both tracks hits hard without ever feeling overdone. Matt Shepard on drums and Laney Barnett on violin bring wonderful depth to the arrangements, and Julian Dreyer captured the studio sessions brilliantly, and David Glasser handled the mastering so every single acoustic string and vocal breath shines brightly. The sound moves smoothly between bare voice-and-guitar performances and fuller band arrangements, creating an emotional arc that includes the weather as an emotional barometer in “The Weather Report” and a hopeful closing track in “All in Good Time”. This self-released project was made entirely without artificial intelligence, and it has found a wonderful international audience in places like the Philippines.

If this record catches your ear and leaves you wanting more acoustic beauty, you should definitely check out the artist’s previous releases to hear where this wonderful musical journey started. Listening to these lovely guitar melodies makes it very easy to appreciate how much care went into every single note and chord on the record. Make sure to follow Mt. Kili to stay updated about new releases for the rest of this year as more songs get recorded and shared with devoted fans everywhere.