Mandolin Orange: This Side of Jordan (YepRoc/Southbound)

 |   |  <1 min read

Mandolin Orange: Hey Adam
Mandolin Orange: This Side of Jordan (YepRoc/Southbound)

This North Carolina duo of Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz mine a well-worked seam of Americana with acoustic guitars, flattened harmonies, mandolin, Appalachian fiddle and so on.

Which means they won't sound especially original to casual ears.

But in their atmospherically listless songs and emotionally turned-down narratives – which come with subtle arrangements and discreet embellishment from harmonica and that fiddle – they have a gentle but firm grip which just doesn't let go.

Their music has rightly drawn praise from the likes of Rosanne Cash (“elegance and intricacy”) but this third album isn't so grounded in some distant rural past that it can't deal with contemporary life (Morphine Girl), the jaded American Dream (“suited us just fine”), gay relationships (the gentle and affirming Hey Adam) and dreams affirmed or denied (House of Stone, There Was a Time).

There's a hymnal quality about some songs, but equally they are happy to go down town to tie one on (Waltz About Whiskey) and mournfully deal with hard times without becoming maudlin or sentimental.

Although critical comparisons with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings seem strained, this duo have created a folk-pop niche within alt.Americana which is a distinctive and welcoming place.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

The National: I Am Easy to Find (4AD/Rhythmethod)

The National: I Am Easy to Find (4AD/Rhythmethod)

For almost two decades the National, originally out of Ohio but these days its members living on various continents, have inspired an almost slavish loyalty from those who, rightly, acclaim their... > Read more

Patty Larkin: 25 (Signature)

Patty Larkin: 25 (Signature)

Celebrating 25 years in music usually means a greatest hits, box set or some kind of attention-grabbing project. It is typical and a measure of Larkin's generous nature that rather than go that... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

JOHN CALE, FRAGMENTS OF A RAINY SEASON, CONSIDERED (1982/2016): The new society still ain't pretty

JOHN CALE, FRAGMENTS OF A RAINY SEASON, CONSIDERED (1982/2016): The new society still ain't pretty

Most musicians in rock culture establish their sound and reputation over a few early albums and consolidate both if their careers are of any length. The late Lemmy and Lou Reed for example... > Read more

BRIAN WILSON INTERVIEWED (2016): Still not made for these times

BRIAN WILSON INTERVIEWED (2016): Still not made for these times

Brian Wilson – the genius behind the Beach Boys' hits from the elemental and Chuck Berry-borrowings of Surfin' USA to the ethereal Good Vibrations and beyond – cuts a sad and... > Read more