Watchhouse, formerly known as Mandolin Orange, reintroduce themselves with new album

Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz have been making music together for a little over 10 years.

In that time, they’ve formed the band Mandolin Orange, published five albums, appeared on NBC’s “Today,” opened for the Avett Brothers and enchanted audiences on tours around the country.

But the Chapel Hill-based roots music duo has evolved. The married couple also welcomed their daughter, Ruby, in 2018.

This year, it felt time for a big change: a new name. In April, Marlin and Frantz reintroduced themselves as Watchhouse and on Aug. 13, they will debut their first album under that name, also called “Watchhouse.”

It can be a risk to change a band name, especially when it’s established. But for Marlin and Frantz, the name change felt like a natural progression and a decision that wasn’t made overnight.

The Watchhouse name is a better fit for the music they make now, said Marlin, who plays the guitar and mandolin while Frantz is on fiddle.

“We’ve wanted to change the name for a long time, and just never knew what to change it to,” Marlin told The News & Observer in a video interview. “And (we) didn’t know if we could and still live the life that we were living creatively, and being able to play the shows that we’ve come to really appreciate being able to play. So, we finally just decided to go for it.”

Their music is deeply personal and raw, a result of persistent soul-searching. Something about that has drawn audiences in and captivated them, growing the band into a nationally recognized musical force.

The new album, produced by Marlin and Josh Kaufman, will explore themes of parenthood, climate change and online interaction. It was recorded in 2020 alongside drummer Joe Westerlund, guitarist Josh Oliver and bassist Clint Mullican at a sleepy lakehouse at the foot of the Appalachian mountains.

In many ways, the album — the sixth they have recorded — is a discovery of the band’s new identity. The music is incredibly different, including elements of psychedelia and droning that are unique in bluegrass music.

The band has also announced 2021 and 2022 tour dates, including two shows Nov. 19 and 20 at the Durham Performing Arts Center.

With all the changes and new directions the band will be taking, The News & Observer sat down to ask Marlin about the band’s approach to their music, their name change, the album and their family.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: How do you describe the music you are performing and composing, and what do you want to achieve with it?

Marlin: I can only answer that from a personal standpoint. It’s just a way for me to work out my own (expletive). It’s a limitless place that I can go in my mind to work out either emotions that I have trouble talking to other people about, or loss that I definitely have trouble confronting, or just societal issues that the world can’t seem to fix and I can’t seem to figure out how I fit into that. I see it as a limitless way to work out my internal feelings.

Q: You recently changed your name from Mandolin Orange to Watchhouse. Could you talk about what inspired the name change?

Marlin: Mainly just because we wanted to. Feeling like we wanted to take control over whatever entity was being created, outside of just our own voices. I think a lot of people apply a lot of meaning to the music they listen to and to the bands that they seem to gravitate towards.

For Emily and I, it felt like we wanted to take that whole perception and just reshape it a little bit, and take control of it and set some new intentions.

Q: In your original statement on Twitter, you mentioned that there was a little bit of a dichotomy between the music you were producing and the name, Mandolin Orange. Could give me an example or describe that dichotomy?

Marlin: The name didn’t really feel heavy enough. I feel like Watchhouse means something to me personally. It’s a place that I went to as a kid. When I think of my relationship to this one family that took me under their roof and their wing, that place signifies a lot for me and that relationship.

I think that was the main reason for wanting to change it. Watchhouse just means so much more to me, and my music just means so much to me. It’s a place that I can go to in my mind, visually, and remember who it is that I am and what the place is that I want to invite people to.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about the place Watchhouse, if you’re comfortable sharing that?

Marlin: I’m of two minds about that. Mostly because, I don’t know really know how to talk about it. It’s one of those things.

I wasn’t that small when I went there, I was like 14, 15, or 16. That time in my life was very chaotic. I wasn’t really holding on to anything, I was just experiencing a lot, not a whole lot of memories to be gathered from that. So, to me, Watchhouse the place is more of a concept than a place where actual memories exist. It was a feeling of being with people that I loved and trusted and liked to be around.

It represents a lot to me, and I hope that when people listen to our music, they feel the same way where they can get away from everything, whatever it is. And go there with their closest friends, by themselves, and feel completely free and safe within that space.

Q: Changing a band name is hard when you’re trying to build a reputation. You are fairly well known and growing quickly, So, how have you worked to retain recognition throughout the whole process?

Marlin: We just played music, man. I think the whole idea of attention grabbing has been put on bands. Especially these days where everyone has to build up a social media presence. It probably feels this way to a lot of fans, that everyone’s fighting for their space and wanting people to pay attention: “Hey look at me, don’t forget, we’re a band, we’re here.”

We really just focus on our music and the tours and our band mates. Just staying on top of things with them, making sure they’re all comfortable and making sure their voices are heard in the band. The band name is kind of like, it’s whatever. It’s like we moved to a new town, but we’re still the same people, we’re just getting used to this new house.

Q: You’re coming out with your first album under the new name. Did you record it during the pandemic? What was that process like?

Marlin: We recorded that like four or three weeks before everything shut down. It’s fun to go back and listen to that record and realize like, “Holy (expletive), we had no idea.” I think it sounds that way. It sounds more hopeful than I feel like records are going to sound in the near future.

We made that record in about four days. Yeah, it was a whirlwind. We weren’t expecting to actually make the record. We were just hanging out with Josh Kaufman (who has produced records for The National), who ended up producing the record. We were going to feel it out with him to see how we like working with him so we could actually go make the record.

But I think we all knew from the time we counted off the first song and got to the end of it. I think we all looked around and were like, “We’re going to make a record. This is it. It sounds good, it feels good, it feels right.”

We probably recorded like 12 to 13 to 14 hours a day, just like, nose to the grindstone. It was just so much fun to see everybody just kind of commit to it and put everything they had into it.

Q: The new album focuses on themes of parenthood, digital isolation, climate catastrophe. How did you land on those themes?

Marlin: I think just being a parent makes those themes combine into one. There’s a lot of thought that goes into the future when you’re looking at a little kid that you love more than anything you could ever love. It sounds kind of cliché to say, but it’s really true. You look at them and you’re like, “OK, I’m gonna pave a path for you.”

So it made me think about all of those things: climate change and just how mean society can be. I don’t ever want her to feel self-doubt, or feel like she’s not good enough, or feel like there’s not a place for her to be the biggest person that she can possibly be.

I think a lot of ways, a lot of these songs are kind of challenging myself to be a better human and to be a better member of society and figure out ways that I can contribute more positively to society. But also, to prolonging moderate temperatures on this planet that we’re on.

Q: In light of the pandemic, how has that shaped the themes and the message surrounding the album?

Marlin: It’s changed a little bit. Just being out in the world is super bizarre and super weird. I think I’m still navigating that. It’s hard to talk about a record when I can’t even hardly make eye contact with people. I think right now after the pandemic I’m still getting my sea legs on how to be human again and how to be not a caged animal.

Q: A lot of your music is very personal to you. There was an article in The News & Observer in 2019 about your album “Tides of a Teardrop,” which talks about how your mom’s death influenced that album. Why do feel like it’s important to share these close and personal experiences through music with the public?

Marlin: I don’t know, I never really thought of it. I’m kind of just driven to do it. It feels good when it’s right and I’m on stage and I’m playing a show for people and it seems like they’re right there with me, and it feels like we’re all on the same page and riding those waves that a song can sometimes create. There’s just not a better feeling.

I feel like I need that as a person, and I like to think that other people need that as well. To bring it back to the pandemic, we just haven’t had that. Everybody’s kind of been just so literally isolated that I think it’s going to take a while before we all know how to sway together and we can move together in a crowd. I look forward to the day when there’s no looming presence of a virus, or the edge of a dictatorship isn’t hanging over top of us all.

Q: How have you balanced parenthood and performing music, and your family? How is your commitment to sharing your personal experiences through your music, or expressing your personal experiences, impacted you both as a family?

Marlin: It’s chaotic, it’s (expletive) crazy. But we’ve surrendered to that existence now. I think, obviously, everything you just said is super important to us, so we’re just going to figure it out. And some days it’s really hard to get on stage, at least right now, depending on how our morning went and how much food people have eaten and how much sleep people have gotten.

But that’s what we’re presenting. We’re presenting ourselves, we’re not trying to convince anybody of anything different. I think that’s one think I love so much about what we’re able to do and the fact that people want to listen to us. Emily and I just get to be ourselves on stage and off stage and it’s pretty cool. I never imagined that we would have that kind of an existence.