Betweentherocks with Mantel

by Cooper Moore, 04/21/26

Mantel is the NYC-based electronic duo project of Jack Ferguson (Princess Pulpit, Goodluck Jonathan) and Holden Cathcart. I sat down with them ahead of their debut show on Thursday and got a glimpse of who Mantel really is.

C: what is mantel?

H. Mantel is a bunch of opposites. Were from opposite ends of the country, we have pretty opposite music backgrounds. Mantel is all of that smashed together. Theres probably a quippier way to put that.

J: Mantel is an electronic pop project that is also guitar music sometimes. Based out of new york.

C: Your debut is on Thursday… tell us what’s on your mind.

J: i’m thinking about the possibility of a sitcom nightmare nude-in-school type situation

H. First impressions are so important. Thats about it.

if mantel were an animal what would it be?

H. Something kinda sweet looking but dangerous. Maybe a leopard or panther

J: the elusive jaguar.

C: what is mantel’s relationship to country music?

H. We love country. Id say its more of a passive influence than like, ‘were a country band’ but its still there in the music. We took inspiration from lots of alt-country like drive-by truckers, lucero, wilco, silver jews type stuff. I sing a ‘sweet little thing’ cover in the set.

J: siblings

C: what will suprise people about mantel’s peformance?

H. I think people will be surprised at how many different sounds were trying to do. Weve been calling ourselves a folktronica duo and its not like, untrue, but its definitely reductive. We’ve got lots of different types of songs.What is Mantel?

J: awesome cover incoming