Haste Make / Hard Hearted Stranger (2xCD)

Mandolin Orange will release a sophomore double LP entitled Haste Make | Hard Hearted Stranger on November 8, 201 and will tour in support of the album beginning 1, September 24, 201 at Cat's Cradle (Carrboro, NC). The Chapel Hill, NC duo is led by songwriter Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, who ornament lyric and harmony focused tunes with acoustic and electric guitars, fiddle and mandolin. Their understated instrumentation draws on bluegrass and rock-and-roll alike, keeping Marlin's dark lyrical themes at the forefront of their folk-country sound. Their focus moves from the instrumentation to the melody and ethos of songs ... a little bit grassy, a little bit country-folk, a little bit something else (muzzleofbees.com), recently called an unmitigated pleasure by Rosanne Cash, who acknowledged the duo as very exciting young people making great music.

Haste Make was recorded with bassist Jeff Crawford and drummer James Wallace in winter 2010/201 at Arbor Ridge Studios West in Franklin, NC and at Arbor Ridge Studios in Chapel Hill, and was produced by Crawford and Mandolin Orange. Hard-Hearted Stranger was recorded in summer 201 at Rubber Room Studios in Chapel Hill and features Andrew and Emily alone, produced by Andrew Marlin. The forthcoming release highlights two different aspects of Mandolin Orange s style--it retains the intimacy, open space and focus established in their first LP, Quiet Little Room (May 2010), but explores new musical territories through both Marlin's songwriting and the involvement of a full rhythm section. Both North Carolina natives, Marlin s rural upbringing and Frantz's roots in bluegrass fiddle and harmony serve as the basis for the duo s explorative style.

Haste Make | Hard Hearted Stranger reflects the influence of traditional music on their original material, which edges into southern gothic with poignant, often foreboding lyrics
centered on themes of the natural world.