Logan City Limits sets the stage for local musicians
Mideau, a Utah-based indie rock band, played at Saturday’s Logan City Limits music festival as one of the headline bands. Lead singer Libbie Linton is a USU alumna.
“I came to Utah State for college, so that makes us all best friends,” Linton said during her performance.
Linton studied biological engineering several years ago as both an undergraduate and a graduate student. She also originally grew up in Logan and attended Logan High School when she was younger.
“I got my start here while doing solo shows,” Linton said. “That’s when Spencer and I met each other.”
Spencer Harrison, the keyboard player for Mideau, said the two met at a concert and decided to play some shows together.
“Those shows ended up turning into songwriting, which turned into an album, which turned into where we are now,” Harrison said.
During the performance, Mideau played songs off their new album and took selfies of themselves on stage.
Alyssa Robinson, a freshman studying music therapy, said she thought Mideau had a great overall sound.
“It was awesome,” she said. “Libbie Linton has a really great voice. The songs were written really well, too.”
The band checked its Instagram account constantly throughout the performance.
“We want you guys to take selfies with us in the background and put it on Instagram,” Harrison said. “The best picture will get some sort of prize.”
There was also a Twitter portion of the contest, and Robinson said it was funny.
“Especially because the keyboardist got really into it,” Robinson said. “He would go out of his way to get into the background of some of the pictures like a creeper.”
Linton said they decided to name their band Mideau, which is a mix of words.
“Mideau means ‘mid’ as in ‘middle’ and ‘eau,’ which in French means ‘water,'” Linton said.
Robinson said she was surprised to discover there was a meaning behind the name.
“Mideau means something?” she said. “I just thought it sounded cool.”
Harrison said the name represents their unique style of music creation.
“Imagine yourself alone and sitting in a boat in the middle of the ocean. Imagine that feeling, the vastness, the excitement of what is out there,” Harrison said. “That is what we want our music to represent.”
He said they chose the mix of words because they wanted a band name that they could give meaning to.
“We really wanted a word that we liked the feeling of but did not have a strong visual meaning, like the ‘Black Wolf Fangs,'” Harrison said.
Harrison said the future of Mideau is hopeful.
Linton said their new album, “Way With Words,” is being sold in hard copies only in Utah before the national release on digital copies.
“(We’re) looking forward to do a national release of this album and doing some recordings this summer,” Harrison said.
The band will be touring all next week with Katie Herzig, a folk rock singer and songwriter from Colorado.
Linton and Harrison both said USU was one of their favorite venues.
“We love the energy here at Utah State,” Linton said. “It is just so much fun.”
– morgan.pratt.robinson@gmail.com