Exclusive: Watch Mandolin Orange’s Quietly Devastating “Golden Embers” Video
The track is off the band's forthcoming album Tides of a Teardrop
Photo by Kendall BaileyBluegrass upstarts Mandolin Orange have shared the video for “Golden Embers,” premiering exclusively here at Paste. “Golden Embers” is the second track off the band’s forthcoming album Tides of a Teardrop, out Feb. 1, 2019, through Yep Roc.
Following lead single “Time We Made Time,” album opener “Golden Embers” catalogs the heartbreak and healing that singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and his father endured following the death of Marlin’s mother. The wistful instrumentation sets the bleak, lonely stage for Marlin’s plainspoken odes to his mother. “Loss has no end / it binds to our connection / we don’t speak of it / we don’t even try,” he sings. The song is Marlin’s plea to his father to crack—to show him that he, too, is feeling the weight. “You’ve got burden in you / and you can help me, and in our time together / her memory will ever shine like golden embers.”
The video, directed by Josh Sliffe, tracks Marlin and co-vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz in the present day as Marlin looks over his younger self, stuck in the throes of grief and unable to reach out. Empty church pews and abandoned junkyard jalopies give the video an air of apocalypse, even if it’s only an internal one.
“We knew the folks at Remedy would make a gorgeous video, and it was fitting that they felt a personal draw to ‘Golden Embers,’” Frantz tells Paste. “They translated all the heavy emotion of the song in a way that feels very true and genuine. I got a little teary when we saw the first edit!”
Mandolin Orange have a handful of December shows on the books, and will be touring in support of their new album throughout the spring. Alongside their new single/video today, the duo have announced a new batch of U.S./Euro tour dates set for April and May.
Watch the video for “Golden Embers” and check out the band’s 2016 Paste Studio session below, and find Mandolin Orange’s tour dates further down, with new shows in bold. You can preorder Tides of a Teardrop here.
Mandolin Orange Tour Dates:
December
04 – Bentonville, Ark. @ Brew Sessions at Bike Rack Brewing
05 – Fayetteville, Ark. @ Faulkner Performing Arts Center
06 – Little Rock, Ark. @ Oxford American Concert Series at South on Main
08 – McMinnville, Tenn. @ Cumberland Caverns Live
January
20 – Morgantown, W.V. @ Mountain Stage
February
01 – Durham, N.C. @ Durham Performing Arts Center
02 – Asheville, N.C. @ Orange Peel
04 – Charlottesville, Va. @ Jefferson Theater
06 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer
07 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
08 – New York, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09 – Boston, Mass. @ Royale
10 – Burlington, Vt. @ Higher Ground
12 – Toronto, Ont. @ Phoenix Theatre
13 – Ann Arbor, Mich. @ The Ark
14 – Madison, Wis. @ Majestic Theatre
15 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Ave
16 – Chicago, Ill. @ Thalia Hall
March
07 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Imperial
08 – Bellingham, Wash. @ Mt. Baker Theatre
09 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Moore
10 – Spokane, Wash. @ The Knitting Factory
12 – Missoula, Mont. @ The Wilma
13 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Commonwealth Room
14 – Fort Collins, Colo. @ Washington’s
15 – Boulder, Colo. @ Boulder Theater
16 – Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre
17 – Santa Fe, N.M. @ Meow Wolf
19 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Crescent Ballroom
20 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ El Rey Theatre
21 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore
22 – Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
23 – Boise, Idaho @ Treefort Music Fest
April
04 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Variety Playhouse
05 – Birmingham, Ala. @ The Saturn
06 – Jackson, Miss. @ Duling Hall
07 – Memphis, Tenn. @ 1884 Lounge
09 – St. Louis, Mo. @ Delmar Hall
10 – Kansas City, Mo. @ Madrid Theatre
11 – Dallas, Texas @ Kessler Theater
12 – Austin, Texas @ Old Settlers Music Festival
13 – Houston, Texas @ Heights Theater
14 – Oklahoma City, Okla. @ Tower Theatre
16 – Cincinnati, Ohio @ Taft Ballroom
17 – Louisville, Ky. @ Headliners Music Hall
18 – Chattanooga, Tenn. @ Walker Theatre
20 – Knoxville, Tenn. @ Bijou Theatre
May
01 – Munich, Germany @ Ampere
02 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido
03 – Hamburg, Germany @ Nochtspeicher
04 – Malmo, Sweden @ Folk a Rock
05 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Slaktkyrkan
07 – Oslo, Norway @ John Dee
08 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pustervik
10 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Oosterpoort
11 – Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje
12 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
13 – Ghent, Belgium @ Dok
14 – Paris, France @ Les Etoiles
15 – London, U.K. @ Islington Assembly Hall