Sweet, often bittersweet, sounds of Mandolin Orange coming to Meijer Gardens amphitheater

Mandolin Orange is a North Carolina based band led by singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz. (Supplied/Kendall Bailey)

By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org

One of the great things about the Meijer Gardens Summer Concert series is catching up with emerging bands just making their national headlining splash, or tour-tested bands making a stop between somewhere and Chicago.

Not really sure where Mandolin Orange fits into that spectrum, but the North Carolina based band led by singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz have a growing reputation on the alt-Americana scene (if that is such a thing?), but may well be new to most of the audience at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park outdoor amphitheater stage on Sept. 4.

I expect the introduction to be good for all of us, as their sweet-sounding music is as familiar as it is rare.

And speaking of sweet sounds … ya, I know; a little cheesy … you will probably not find two more sweet voices than that of lead singer Marlin and harmonizer Frantz, as evidenced by “The Wolves”, one of the singles off the band’s most recent release, from February of this year, “Tides of a Teardrop”.

For a video of “The Wolves”, visit here.

As evidenced by “Tides of a Teardrop”, Marlin not only writes sweet songs, he often writes bittersweet songs.

As the new release was being created, according to supplied material, Marlin wrote the songs, “as he usually does, in a sort of stream of consciousness, allowing words and phrases to pour out of him as he hunted for the chords and melodies. Then, as he went back to sharpen what he found, he found something troubling and profound. Intimations of loss have always haunted the edges of their music, their lyrics hinting at impermanence and passing of time.”

For this album, Marlin and Frantz enlisted their touring band, and, having recorded all previous albums live in the studio, they approached the recording process in a different way this time.

“We went and did what most people do, which we’ve never done before — we just holed up somewhere and worked the tunes out together,” Frantz said in supplied material.

“This record is a little more cosmic, almost in a spiritual way — the space between the notes was there to suggest all those empty spaces the record touches on,” Marlin adds.

And the record is clearly touching a receptive audience.

“Tides Of A Teardrop”, when it was released, debuted at #1 on four different Billboard charts: Heatseekers, Folk/Americana, Current Country Albums and Bluegrass.

The band’s last record, 2016’s “Blindfaller”, was their breakout, earning them raves from Vox and NPR Music, and since then they have played Red Rocks with The Avett Brothers, played Bonnaroo as well as the Newport Folk Festival.

Mandolin Orange’s Wednesday, Sept. 4, concert, With Bonny Light Horseman opening, will start at 7 p.m. (5:45 p.m. gates open), with a $40 general admission ticket price. For more information and tickets visit meijergardens.org .