Sally Buice and Molly Rochelson, better known as Cincinnati-based folk duo The Montvales, have managed to keep folklore traditions—like a strong sense of home and enacting change through art—alive on their new release Born Strangers, all without veering from their personal, honest perspective of two young, female artists in the 2020s.

From their early days busking in their hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, folk-country duo The Montvales have fine tuned the art of meeting listeners exactly where they are. And with their upcoming album Born Strangers, the pair—Sally Buice and Molly Rochelson—have taken that concept to universal levels, creating a reaffirming collection of songs for these uncertain times as told through the wide-eyed existentialism of their stories and the questions raised by their lyrics.