SOLD OUT: Mandolin Orange, Mapache
Majestic Theatre 115 King St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Kendall Bailey
Mandolin Orange: Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz.
On their sixth studio album, Tides of a Teardrop, this North Carolina duo crafts gentle, meditative folk music that explores grief, spirituality and bittersweet life lessons. Singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz excel at creating cerebral, empathetic Americana — a refreshing departure from bands like Mumford & Sons. With Mapache. Sold out.
$25 ($20 adv.).
press release: Mandolin Orange -- North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz -- announce the release of Tides Of A Teardrop, their first new music since 2016. Out February 1, 2019, 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.
"Time We Made Time" by Mandolin Orange
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.
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.
Founded by Marlin and Frantz after meeting at a bluegrass jam session in 2009, Mandolin Orange's journey has been an auspicious one, as they've garnered praise from NPR, Paste, American Songwriter and more, and performed at such esteemed festivals as Telluride Bluegrass, Pickathon, and Austin City Limits. Tides Of A Teardrop follows Blindfaller (2016), Such Jubilee (2015), and This Side Of Jordan (2013).