Formerly known as Mandolin Orange and currently known as Watchhhouse, the duo of Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz have been a wonderful part of the national folk scene for over 10 years. The act out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina are quite prolific and talented with seven albums under their belt and an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival last summer. The same can be said for Marlin as a solo artist with his numerous collaborations and a few instrumental records under his own name. On December 17, he’ll be performing at the Knickerbocker Music Center on 35 Railroad Avenue in Westerly. There he’ll be joined by a backing band with fellow North Carolinian Kate Rhudy opening things up.
Marlin and I had a talk ahead of the show about him releasing two albums earlier this year, working in a recording studio before it closed down, his favorite instruments to play and another album he’s been working on.
Rob Duguay: Back in February you released two instrumental albums, Witching Hour and Fable & Fire. What made you want to release both albums in the same month? Do you both have some sort of symmetry between each other?
Andrew Marlin: I was pretty indifferent to the whole process of releasing things. I had both of those ready to go so I decided to put them out and now I’m working on another one. There isn’t any real story between the two, they’re two very different albums in my opinion in terms of tone and the way the songs ended up coming out.
RD: What would you say is the vision behind both albums? Is there a distinct one for each record or are they both just a collection of songs?
AM: I feel like Witching Hour was more of an excuse to get together and play with my buddies. We hadn’t seen each other in a few months because of the pandemic and I had a bunch of these instrumental songs written so I called everybody up to see if they were down to make this record. The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville, where we recorded it, was closing down because the building they were in had been bought out and it was going to be turned into condos. My buddy Sean Sullivan, who is the engineer there, called me up to say that if I’m going to make a record before the place shuts down I should do it within the next few weeks. I basically called up everybody which included Josh Oliver on guitar, Christian Sedelmeyer on fiddle and Clint Mullican on bass to ask them if they wanted to make a record and we ended up doing it the following week.
We all crammed a bunch of songs, then we went into the studio and everyone did a great job. In my mind, the Fable & Fire record was much more of a thought out, start to finish album. As the pandemic progressed and we started realizing that we were going to be in it much longer than everyone thought, there was so much in my life that I was missing and so much that I was having to rearrange internally and emotionally. I didn’t really know how to put those into lyrics and feelings but they’re all very present so I decided to start working on another instrumental record and try to work through and process some of that by letting it out sonically. To me, that album really captures kind of the chaos but also some of the beauty of finding time to actually step away from the hustle of being a full-time touring musician, there’s a lot of ups and downs on that album and it brings me so much peace when I go back to listen to it.
RD: It’s great that it has that particular effect on you. You’re a multi-instrumentalist by playing the mandolin, guitar and banjo. Do you prefer any instrument over the other two or do you enjoy playing them each equally for their different intricacies and characteristics?
AM: They each have their own thing they bring to a band so I think it depends on who I’m playing with and what kind of songs we’re playing. To me, I like the guitar when it’s just myself playing my songs just because most of them are written on guitar so I can just carry the entire song on my own. When it comes to playing in a band, the mandolin is usually my first choice because I love the role that it plays in a band and I love how dynamic the instrument is. You can play it super quiet and get beautiful tones out of it but then when you hit it hard it has this growl to it that to me can really draw out aggression and fierceness that I haven’t really found on other instruments. Most instruments kind of have a bassline dynamic and range that they’re able to accomplish but to me the mandolin is pretty limitless in the different emotions it can swim in.
RD: What would you say is the major difference between you performing solo than with Watchhouse? Do you have to make any certain adjustments? Do you feel more vulnerable on stage by yourself?
AM: I don’t usually play by myself too often these days, I usually have a band come along, but there’s more riding on solo shows because there’s more weight that you have to carry. I also think there’s a freedom within that where I can take the show wherever I want to go because I’m not having to consult with anyone. There’s no other page to get on except my own and performing with Watchhouse, there’s a history of many, many years of playing together and there’s kind of a settled feeling that comes along with stepping on stage with Emily and the other members we have in the band. There’s obviously some pressure there as well, I think we’re much more established as Watchhouse than I am as a solo artist so that inherently comes with more pressure. I think that pressure dictates how much adrenaline you have on stage so I think there’s a bigger payoff and a bigger rush from pulling off a great Watchhouse show that I just love.
For these shows I have going on this month, it’s going to be me with Christian, Josh and Clint. This band offers so much freedom because we don’t really do a lot of singing, it’s all instrumental and I just love how fluently we can move between tunes on any given night. No matter which song it is, each night it’s going to be different and I just love that about playing in this quartet.
RD: 2022 is coming up before we all know it, so what are your plans for next year? You said earlier that you’re working on a new solo album.
AM: We put out a new Watchhouse record in August so basically we’ve only been doing festivals since then so it’ll be more touring on that record while trying to bring it to more of our fans. As far as my instrumental record goes, I need to actually make it first before I decide when it’s going to be released but if we can get it all done in the next few weeks then I would say to look for it to come out next year.
"try" - Google News
December 10, 2021 at 12:30PM
https://ift.tt/3DIpF72
Folk veteran Andrew Marlin isn't afraid to try something new - The Independent
"try" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3b52l6K
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Folk veteran Andrew Marlin isn't afraid to try something new - The Independent"
Post a Comment