Storyteller, Truth-Seeker, and Musician
Local musician Luke Wilmoth’s work reflects the deepest tenets of his musical philosophy: that good music is good storytelling. His band, District Title, strives to honor the many shades of emotion we experience in our daily lives.
Photography by Nate Chappell
Music offers us a unique opportunity to tap into narratives apart from our own. In the listening experience, we become aware of our own emotional state — whether we know it’s happening or not.
District Title’s 2019 debut album, Holy Ghost, is an exercise in introspection. In it, frontman Luke Wilmoth lets us in on his admiration for the nuances of life. Free of any distinctly “happy” or “sad” songs, Holy Ghost is a deep dive into Wilmoth’s pensive inner world, in all its complexity.
The album communicates both the meaningful and the mundane; the listener finds both tension and release. Wilmoth tells us about the universal experiences of young adulthood: navigating relationships, looking for your phone in an apartment, and missing someone.
When Wilmoth started playing music, he became mesmerized by the power of the craft. He remembers it vividly. “When I was four years old, my parents came home one day with a Rudolph & Wurlitzer upright piano that they got from a family friend. To my four-year-old self, it was this beautiful, refined, intimidating machine that I really never got to see up close before. I became obsessed with it.” Shortly after, he picked up guitar, bass, and drums, too.
The affection for music that Wilmoth felt at four years old transformed into a stubborn devotion. Music became more than a hobby; it engulfed him, a gut feeling he couldn’t shake. Now 23, he admits it casually. “Music’s just always been my thing. I don’t really know anything else.”
Wilmoth was an award-winning jazz pianist.
In high school, Wilmoth taught himself to produce his own music and cut his teeth playing live. On weekends and breaks, he toured the Southeast. “We’d drive hours across state lines to play gigs, sometimes to an empty room or just the bartender. It wasn’t easy,” he says. “But it was worth it. I figured out my niche and learned how to carve out my own space onstage.”
In 2019, Wilmoth shifted from playing solo to playing under a moniker, District Title. Something of an alter ego, District Title offers a space for Wilmoth to create what he wants on his own time. He values complexity and storytelling in his music. He’s struck by heavy, melancholic lyrics played against a bright, detailed landscape. Wilmoth draws inspiration from the pop-punk world of his childhood and adapts it to suit an audience like himself: those seeking truth in a small town, skeptical but attempting self-reassurance.
“But it was worth it. I figured out my niche and learned how to carve out my own space onstage.”
District Title
@districttitleisnotaband
Available on all streaming platforms
When Wilmoth gets an idea for a song, it starts out as a seed: one basic, undeveloped phrase that pops into his head during the day. He then takes hat idea home and plants the seed. He layers drum tracks, bass, guitar, keys, and vocals until he’s got some roots. Wilmoth and his bandmates — Noah Hickey and Tanner Ledford of Foxhall, Kevin Sumner, Ian Goodman, Jeff Philips, and his brother, Ben Wilmoth — will head to the Vanguard Room to professionally record what he’s been putting together. A perfectionist, Wilmoth labors over a track until it’s just right.
District Title’s most recent EP, Four Stories, is an ode to leaving the old behind and stepping into the new. It’s up to listener interpretation, but the EP reaches one point of reckoning when Wilmoth makes a resolution: to tell the truth and try his best.
Wilmoth is excited to continue delivering the heavy, well-crafted, and sympathetic music that’s earned him a small but impassioned fanbase. He articulates his craft as one that honors life in all its wholeness and all its complexity.
“I like telling stories in my music. Life is nuanced, and I’m drawn to create art that reflects that,” he says. “Sure, it’s a nice escape to make a song about a nice day with a blue sky. But why not create a little tension with a small black cloud in the distance? I believe complexity is how you earn your spot on your audience’s listening rotations — not for weeks, but for years.”
“I like telling stories in my music. Life is nuanced, and I’m drawn to create art that reflects that.”