Mandolin Orange — North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz — release Tides Of A Teardrop, their first new music since 2016, on Yep Roc Records — their fourth album for the venerable label — Tides Of A Teardrop finds Mandolin Orange exploring the intimate grief at the frayed edges of their songwriting and confronting loss head-on, facing down the depths of despair and emerging with something renewed and redemptive. It’s a progressive, personal statement from one of roots music’s most thoughtful young groups, on the cusp of yet another prodigious breakthrough. Purchase the record NOW!
NPR calls the band “a slow-burning, steadily rising folk duo” that “exudes gentle elegance.” Stream the record HERE.
On the self-produced Tides Of A Teardrop, their slow-burning acoustic
meditations on love and loss are belied by a newfound directness as Marlin tackles the death of his mother, who died when he was 18. “I think her passing was almost the genesis of my writing,” says Marlin. “That was when I really began to find refuge in writing songs.”
Marlin’s songwriting voice emerges clearer than ever, set in sharp relief by the indelible performances of Mandolin Orange’s longtime touring band: Josh Oliver on keyboards and guitar, Clint Mullican on bass, and Joe Westerlund on drums. Whether it’s the trilling, weighty atmosphere of the allegorical “Wolves” or the Appalachian yearning of the hymn-like “Suspended In Heaven” (written on Mother’s Day), Marlin and Frantz’s vocal and instrumental interplay is as dialed in as ever, the instinctual expression of deeply known but unspoken truths. Mandolin Orange’s last album, 2016’s Blindfaller, is an exceptional outlier in the age of streaming — a quietly reflective, acoustic album that made a lot of noise.
It was named one of Rolling Stone’s ‘40 Best Country Albums of 2016,’ debuted at #3 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, and helped the band surpass 100 million catalog streams, multiplying its fanbase through a combination of their “angelic harmonies” (NPR Music), “low-key instrumental heroics” (Vox), and fervent word-of-mouth support. Their touring profile skyrocketed: Mandolin Orange sold out every single U.S. date they headlined in 2018, sold out 12 dates (out of 14) on a headlining Winter 2018 European tour, played with the likes of the Avett Brothers and Josh Ritter, and graced iconic stages such as Red Rocks (twice!), the
Ryman, Bonnaroo, and Newport Folk Festival.
Mandolin Orange are preparing for an extensive North American tour in 2019, including stops at the Durham Performing Arts Center, Music Hall Of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Los Angeles’s El Rey Theatre and the 9:30 Club in
Washington DC. A full list of dates below.
Order your copy of Tides of a Teardrop HERE!
‘Tides Of A Teardrop’ Tracklist:
1. Golden Embers
2. The Wolves
3. Into The Sun
4. Like You Used To
5. Mother Deer
6. Lonely All The Time
7. When She’s Feeling Blue
8. Late September
9. Suspended In Heaven
10. Time We Made Time
Tour Dates:
2/1/19 – Durham Performing Arts Center – Durham, NC
2/2/19 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
2/4/19 – Jefferson Theater – Charlottesville, VA
2/6/19 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
2/7/19 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
2/8/19 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – New York, NY
2/9/19 – Royale – Boston, MA
2/10/19 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT
2/12/19 – Phoenix Theatre – Toronto, ON
2/13/19 – The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI
2/14/19 – Majestic Theatre- Madison, WI
2/15/19 – First Ave – Minneapolis, MN
2/16/19 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
3/7/19 – Imperial – Vancouver, BC
3/8/19 – Mt. Baker Theatre – Bellingham, WA
3/9/19 – The Moore – Seattle, WA
3/10/19 – The Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA
3/12/19 – The Wilma – Missoula, MT
3/13/19 – Commonwealth Room – Salt Lake City, UT
3/14/19 – Washington’s – Fort Collins, CO
3/15/19 – Boulder Theater – Boulder, CO
3/16/19 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
3/17/19 – Meow Wolf – Santa Fe, NM
3/19/19 – Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
3/20/19 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
3/21/19 – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
3/22/19 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR