Artist Development
August 8, 2025
MIRADOR live in Georgia, photographed by Lewis Evans
There is an extensive list of famous rock’n’roll duos that many will recognize just by their faces, if not by their names: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, et cetera…
These names are already cemented together in history, but there is another duo on the rise, one that may very well gain the same amount of notoriety: Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet and Chris Turpin of Ida Mae.
This is a relationship that goes back further than expected: all the way back to December 2018 when English rock band Ida Mae opened for Greta Van Fleet for the first time, at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.
Fostering their creative kinship, the pair’s first official collaboration came to life in 2021: a song called “Long Gone & Heartworn,” featuring Kiszka’s killer guitar skills on Ida Mae’s second studio album, Click Click Domino.
But the true evolution of this partnership came to life a little over a year ago, when a band called MIRADOR began inviting listeners to join their chorus via Instagram. This new project consists of none other than Jake Kiszka, Chris Turpin and their friends, Mikey Sorbello and Nick Pini.
“From somewhere on the horizon. Two drifters on the skyway. One traveling north, one headed east…”
At the time, I was a month away from flying from Oklahoma to North Carolina with Greta Van Fleet tickets in hand. There, I would reunite with my best friend and we’d drive south to see the band in South Carolina and Georgia within a four day period.
Immediately following the band’s announcement, MIRADOR dropped their own US spring tour—alongside opening for Greta Van Fleet on their upcoming Starcatcher World Tour… the very tour my best friend and I were just three weeks away from.
But it was not until this summer that MIRADOR would make a move to release music.
On July 21st, MIRADOR announced the release of their very first single, “Feels Like Gold.”
“The stillness lifts, the moment arrives…”
Alongside the release of “Feels Like Gold,” the band (finally) announced their debut self-titled album, MIRADOR, set to release on September 19th. “Feels Like Gold” is nothing short of an invitation (written in ink on parchment paper and delivered via passenger pigeon), as it is the first single, first song on the track list, and the song they used to open their sets last spring.
“Feels Like Gold” is bold and abrasive, guitars layered on top of one another to create an impenetrable wall of sound. The combination of Turpin’s sharp, classic rockstar tone and Kiszka’s confident harmonies against the backdrop of live instrumentals creates a powerful image. I can almost see them on the horizon, approaching in a worn pirate ship, her flags still raised proudly.
MIRADOR spent a year shrouding themselves in mystery, setting a tone of mysticism and otherworldliness (feed in black and white, captions poetic). With songs only available to hear at live shows (or posted online afterwards by attendees), anticipation ran wild among fans, nearly all of whom are Greta Van Fleet fans (I know this because I’m one of them).
“Feels Like Gold” is Kiszka and Turpin’s invitation into a new world they’ve created, one of darkness and unknowables. This new world was designed to give each of them creative freedom, and take another direction.
As a full-time Greta Van Fleet and part-time Ida Mae enjoyer, I knew a bit of what to expect from this project. In fact, I’d dare to say that the MIRADOR project is an extension of the world Kiszka created within Greta Van Fleet’s The Battle at Garden’s Gate. More specifically, MIRADOR feels born from “The Weight of Dreams,” a continuation of that endless guitar solo that spins out into the great unknown.
It’s a song about trading dreams in exchange for riches; both it and “Feels Like Gold” are reminiscent of the myth of the king of Delta blues: Robert Johnson, the man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for otherworldly musical skill. Using the strings of mythology and folklore, MIRADOR weaves together an all-new image, one depicting the complexity and duality of the human condition.
The group has a story to tell and a lesson to teach: “There is hope in even the darkest of places; I know because I found it.”
After a month of opening Greta Van Fleet’s Starcatcher World Tour, MIRADOR flew directly into the studio and recorded their debut album in just two weeks. In an interview with TMRW Magazine, Kiszka states, "If we didn’t cut our teeth in the most intense circumstance, I don’t think the record would have the same spirit."
Recording so soon after the tour (doing it all live, no less) seems to have captured the band’s dissipating, galvanized energy as they came down from the adrenaline high of performing together every night for four weeks straight.
In that same interview, Kiszka claims that his chemistry with Turpin is nearly identical to what he shares with his brothers, the very ones that make up the rest of Greta Van Fleet. Early Greta Van Fleet had a ruthless, unrestrained energy about them, the kind that can really only come from young men–brothers, no less–raised on blues and determined to be rockstars. MIRADOR has a similar fire: two musicians coming together and realizing the world they can create together is completely unique. The pair’s excitement for their collaborative powers is nothing short of intoxicating.
With MIRADOR’s debut album on the way, my expectation is a return to the wild, youthfulness of Kiszka’s early musicianship with a more evolved lyrical and world-building approach. I’m expecting a vast and moving story to be told across twelve different parts, a sonic painting vivid enough to see behind my eyelids.
Getting excited for a debut band is one thing, but when the individuals in it are known for their skill and immense creativity… that’s a whole other thing entirely.
And according to the band, this is just the beginning. Tune in on September 19th to listen to the rest of MIRADOR’s world unfold. Following that, the group will hit the road again for a tour of their own, taking their chorus across America and overseas.
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