Tangerine

You know how before you get your drivers’ license, you fantasize about the moment when you can blow out of the DMV parking lot en route to a drive-thru (or your friend’s house, I guess) while blasting one very essential song that represents all the fun you’re about to have behind the wheel? Meet Tangerine, whose music would be just perfect for that moment. The band has recorded three EPs of gratifying, snappy, windows-down pop tracks—the most recent in the series, BEHEMOTH!, comes out October 28. In the meantime, we scored the video premiere for “You’ll Always Be Lonely”, which you can/should enjoy right here, right now!

Tangerine is the brainchild of the Justad sisters: Miro, who plays drums, and Marika, the band’s frontwoman. They joined up with the band’s guitarist, Toby Kuhn, and bassist, Ryan Baker, two years ago and have been playing together ever since. I got coffee with my old friends (I’ve known these guys since way back when!) to talk about the evolution of Tangerine, the radness of a musical sisterhood, and some strategies about starting a new band in your old town. For even more Tangerine, follow the band on Facebook or Twitter and check out their music on SoundCloud or Bandcamp!

DYLAN: I haven’t seen you guys since we were all young shredders and Miro, Marika, and Toby were playing all-ages shows around Seattle.

MIRO JUSTAD: Yeah—we were 12.

THAT’S CRAZY! How did you get from then to now, as Tangerine?

MARIKA JUSTAD: We started our old band, the Sutures, at the beginning of high school for Toby and me. Miro was still in middle school. Emotionally, we just needed a break, because we went really hard as kids. We had a lot of stress in addition to a lot of fun. We came back when the time was right about two years ago, after we met Ryan.

TOBY KUHN: We did a whole lot of nothing for a while! Kind of went to college, dropped out of college, decided we didn’t want to go to college… [Laughs]

MARIKA: Ryan and I finished college!

TOBY: We were always hanging outbut we definitely took a big, fat hiatus. I made beats—we all made electronic music in the meantime.

MIRO: That’s what you do when you don’t have a band: You create your own band with a keyboard.

How active have you guys been since you started?

MIRO: We’ve been in “go” mode since we started Tangerine. We put our all into it every day.

MARIKA: We didn’t really have a plan when we started. We just played some shows and ended up getting offers to come out more. Then, Ryan knows this guy with a little label who offered to record our EP, and suddenly we had an EP. All of a sudden the band was super legit!

TOBY: We put out two EPs in 2013 and tried to play as many shows as we could. After we released the second EP, we toured to South by Southwest in the spring, and that was a blast. That was my favorite experience so far.

ALL: Same!

MARIKA: We were warned SXSW isn’t the best for small bands, but we had an amazing weekend. We all think it was worth it.

TOBY: I could see how it could easily be not worth it, but we played awesome side parties outside the festival. All of us wanted to tour so damn bad anyway; it was worth it to get it out of our system!

RYAN BAKER: But we’re still itching to go back!

What are the benefits of having a new band in your same hometown, with most of the same people you’ve played with since you were teenagers? Does it give you a leg up?

MARIKA: Working with people I already knew is obviously great. In terms of getting a leg up, I don’t think so—we all removed ourselves from the local music scene. We had to cold-call bookers to ask for shows. We were complete outsiders, even though three-quarters of us were born and raised in Seattle, and Ryan was in the music scene for a while as well.

You have a new project coming out soon. Can you tell me about it?

MARIKA: BEHEMOTH! is our third EP in a series. It’s longer [than the others]: Seven songs instead of four. This is our most polished one since we did it in a studio—the other ones we did in a basement, which was fun.

TOBY: It would have been a lot more fun if…well, all I can say is there are a lot of cleaner basements out there than the ones we recorded in.

Is doing a bunch of EPs rather than a big record a better format for you right now?

TOBY: It makes sense from a “playing the field” standpoint, I suppose—not putting all our eggs in one basket, but continuing to write songs and needing to get them out.

MARIKA: An EP can be something you do just to be creative, or it could go further. It doesn’t really matter, in a way, because it’s a smaller output. We’re huge perfectionists. It took us a while to record these songs. We need a lot of time. There was one little three-note riff in this last EP that we spent a DAY debating. The producer was like, “You guys are ridiculous.” We would put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make The Perfect Album.

TOBY: I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken if we were recording an album instead of an EP.

MARIKA: We’re avoiding that pressure by working on our songwriting.

TOBY: We have a pretty fat catalogue stacked up already with the EPs. We wrote the songs we’re releasing now around a year ago. By the time we release an album, those songs will also be about a year old, which is good, because we want that amount of time to think about them.

Marika and Miro, besides the music you’ve done on your own, any time you’ve played music with other people, it’s been with each other as sisters. Is it the best thing ever?

MIRO (totes jokin’): No, it SUCKS! No, it’s great. We’re on the same page in terms of our schedules and lives. We live together, practice in our basement, and look out for each other because we’re siblings. It’s nice to have blood ties in a band. It has its challenges, too. We’re not, like, Care Bears holding hands 24/7…

MARIKA: Even though we’re really different from each other, we have a lot of the same aesthetics. We’re totally going to form a coalition and take over. I’ve never played with another drummer.

Was there one sister who influenced the other to start playing music?

MARIKA: We fell into it naturally—I had always been interested in singing, and you gravitated towards drums as a really little kid, so our uncle gave her a drum kit, and we started playing together. We never discussed it; I can’t even remember anything before our first show when we played SoundOff! [Seattle’s underage battle of the bands].

Oh my god, I was totally there! Do you have anything to say to people who are the age that you were when you guys started?

MIRO: Don’t let your parents influence you too much. Listen to them, but also listen to yourself.

TOBY: But also don’t underestimate how good your parents can be for this shit! All of our parents were so helpful during our time in bands!

MIRO: Yeah! Just follow your own aesthetic, not your parents’. You can look up to them, but have your own tastes.

MARIKA: If you’re a young musician, you probably have a huge record collection and listen to a lot of artists, but don’t be overly influenced by specific genres and influences. Early on, a lot of people list off so many genres, references, influences for cred. You shouldn’t feel like you have to be dictated by that. Just do your own thing. ♦ - Rookie Mag

We love games here at Noisey. They distract us from the inescapable onslaught of time and decay. So, we’re starting a series based on one of our favorite games, Two Truths and a Lie. You might remember this game from theater camp, if you spent your childhood being an acute wiener. The way it works is we ask our favorite artists to tell us three biographical facts. Two of them are true. One of them is false. Hand in the completed quiz to your nearest Noisey faculty member for grading by tomorrow. Just kidding, homework sucks! Answers are below.

For the first edition we asked one of our favorite new bands, Tangerine, to hit us with their best shot. Toby, Ryan, Marika, and Miro comprise a fresh-faced indie-pop quartet from Seattle, who’ve seen some crazy shit and met a fucked up number of celebrities. Or have they?

While you’re at it, stream our premiere of their latest single “You’ll Always Be Lonely.” It’s a gorgeous, gold-flecked reminder that love is pain and all relationships fail. “You’ll never come over,” croons Marika, sweetly delivering a bitter pill. Did I mention the inescapable onslaught of time and decay?

Watch out for Tangerine’s upcoming EP BEHEMOTH! out October 28.

Two Truths And A Lie

Toby:

1. I almost died twice on a shitty little boat in a storm.

2. I've been held at gunpoint.

3. Almost died of boredom watching 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Ryan:

1. I wear platform shoes so that I'm the tallest member of the band.

2. I'm terrified of elevators.

3. I once accidentally ate close to an entire block of cheese in one sitting.

Marika:

1. I accidentally gave M.I.A a piggyback ride at a concert and she almost broke my neck.

2. Almost got hit by a tour van containing the Strokes.

3. I once bummed a cigarette from Shah Rukh Khan.

Miro:

1. My house is haunted by a ghost named Didier whose into indie music.

2. I smoked a joint with Bill Nye.

3. I once set a school record and hula hooped for 3 hours.


Answers:
Toby's lie is #3
Ryan's lie is #1
Marika's lie is #3
Miro's lie is #2. Tell Didier to give us a call.

Got them all right? Bitch, you guessed it.

Ezra Marcus is always lonely and constantly online—@ezra_marc - Noisey Vice

Tangerine is the kind of band that puts a smile on your face. They’ve been playing locally around Seattle for a few years now and have started to hit the summer festival circuit, as well. Their bright pop sound with floating guitar tones and sweet vocals make them one of those bands that you don’t have to take hours upon hours to analyze and deconstruct, as if you’re reading a Descartes treatise. The band does move you, however. In a way that those two-minute summer pop songs moved listeners coming over the radio waves in those pastel-colored cars of the 60s. In short, Tangerine is a breath of fresh air. - KEXP

A woozy reverbed guitar backs up beautiful vocals on ‘Feel This Way’, before a prominent funky bass line kicks in. The chorus is almost sickly sweet with a 60’s feel and swaying rhythm. This track will instantly lift moods and get feets tapping. It is obvious from the combination of guitar riffs on Feel This Way, that the band’s influences range from retro simplicity to more recent indie greats.
A very obvious 60’s vibe from the first chords of ‘Hanford Riviera’, with guitar riffs seeped in nostalgic tones. The vocals are childlike in their sweetness; it’s a real treat to find a voice of this calibre these days. There’s an abundance of melody here. It may be simpler instrumentation unlike other current bands, but it proves you don’t need to throw everything into a song to make it good.
Vocals backed by occasional echoing strums, open ‘Mars’. This track somehow manages to mix scuzzy psychedelic riffs, and pounding drums of the final chorus together, with atmospheric wistful pop sounds of yesteryear to produce something truly brilliant, and different.
Deep rumbling bass brings in its final track ‘The Runner’, definitely more current sounding than the others with an indie shoegaze sound, reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. The references are there throughout this EP, but they construct a sound all of their own. A steady beat and harmonious vocals are coupled with crashing hi-hats and a strong guitar. It’s spherical and muffled in nature, adding interesting elements to this quite wonderful last effort. Essentially Tangerine have constructed their own sound of new wave, influenced by pop with an indie feel. - On The Come Up TV (London)

Tangerine, Radical Blossoms EP (out now, Swoon Records, swoonrecords.com/tangerine): In the same vein as Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, Tangerine’s Marika Justad delivers dreamy breeze-pop perfect for a sunny day. That’s why the timing of this release—the second EP from the newly formed Seattle act—may be its biggest hurdle (or a much needed weather pick-me-up/big autumn success). Led by Justad’s soulful, wispy vocals, Blossoms is a tightly arranged (and too short) collection of surfer-friendly pop that both pays homage to classic groups such as the Breeders and Fleetwood Mac and introduces a warmer, more fully realized sound for an act that got its start on the Sound Off! stage. (Marika and her drummer sister Miro originally competed, as the Neons, in the Experience Music Project’s competition in 2004.) In the years since, the Justads’ sound has definitely matured, as they’ve traded their angsty alt-rock and aggressive riffs for something a bit mellower. The stripped and slowed-down version, made more poignant by guitarist Toby Kuhn’s gentle plucking and bassist Ryan Baker’s deep undertones, has us wondering just two things: How can something so youthful and refreshing feel so nostalgic? And when can we have more? - Seattle Weekly

Tangerine are a four-piece from Seattle who’ve been setting pulses racing in recent months with their charming brand of fuzz-soaked dream-pop.

Feel This Way is the lead track from their latest E.P. called Radical Blossom, which you can stream in its entirety on the band’s amazingtunes page now. - Amazing Radio UK

I am a fucking lollipop on a fucking 3-inch stick for this music. You must know this about me by now. A fucking sink plunger covered with gunk and gristle. An eight-miles high warning sign plastered in bird shit and failed sun-journeys.

What more do you need to know? This could be Manors. It’s not. This could be You Me & Us. It’s not. This could be Hop Along. It’s not. This could be Go Violets. It’s not. This could be Cosines. It’s not. This could be Camera Obscura. It’s not.

How long would you like this list to go on for? Such saturation of sound. Saturated with gorgeousness and the sort of female harmonies that you wish would haunt your waking hours. The crush I have on Tangerine is not even vaguely sexual: its intensity and desire for release goes way, way beyond that. You’re thinking 60s, right? The 60s NEVER sounded like this, nothing sounded like this. Everything. The guitar fading back through. The plaintive edge to the lead vocal. The solid, never grating drum beat. The repetition of the main statement. The fade-out trio. The slightly abrasive, playful guitar solo. The fade to purple.

Every time I play it, I want to play it even more. I want to play it in double time, triplicate, stop after 3 seconds and play it immediately, stop after 30 minutes and play it instantly.

Everything about this. Everything.

Tell everyone. - Collapse Board

Ah, I wish summer wasn’t over because Tangerine’s "Feel This Way" would’ve been my summer jam! It’s soft, relaxed, and makes me feel that every moment should be cherished. It’s a song that you could play at a party, or even put on a “chill-out/study” playlist (as a former college student, this was the biggest challenge of my life).
With dream-like shots of friends sitting in a park drinking sangria, to a crowd dancing to Tangerine playing, this song and video will make you feel at ease. And with lyrics like, “So hear me out/ It is a sweet, sweet thing to me/ Think about it/ Think about what we can be,” this song is perfect to play for that special someone.

Tangerine is a Seattle, WA based band whose EP, “Radical Blossom,” is now out on Swoon Records. Interesting fact: The band’s singer, Marika, and drummer, Miro, are sisters! How “awesome blossom” is that?

I suggest you all check this band out on their Bandcamp, because they’re really good! But aside from that, “Feel This Way” is deffo a song to enjoy during any season! - BUST Magazine

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington has inspired documentaries, museum exhibits, art shows and even a book of poetry. Now, a Northwest band call Tangerine is about to release a new song that tackles the leaking tanks of radioactive waste at the federal site.

“I guess it’s a slightly unusual topic for a pop song," admits Marika Justad. "Especially one that has a romantic angle. Justad sings and plays guitar and piano for Tangerine, an alternative pop band from Seattle.

“I read a headline that said Governor Inslee believes there is no imminent danger to the groundwater of Washington state," Justad says. "And I was like, what is the danger in general? So I read more about it and I realized there were some tanks leaking at the Hanford nuclear site, which I found pretty scary.”

“The Columbia River is somewhere where my family has spent a lot of time in the past, so that just struck me pretty hard. I was already writing a song that I thought was sort of boring, it was kind of a by-the-books romantic song. And I wanted to add an environmental angle, but I didn’t want to hit people over the head with it. Especially since I’m not really an expert in any way.

"So I decided to write a song a little tongue-in-cheek about a romance taking place on a Riviera -- Hanford Riviera -- that’s been tainted by nuclear waste. And sort of incorporate the paranoia, impending doom that would come from that situation.”

“The song for me represents just a state of mind that I think a lot of people my age might share. Which is I think we all know that something totally not cool is going on with the environment in general global warming, nuclear contamination you know floating islands of trash, but most people don’t know where to begin to address those issues. And so it just floats in the background an underlying sense of uneasiness."

"And that’s what the song is really trying to capture.” - NPR

Over the course of two EP releases this year, Seattle's Tangerine have cast themselves in the same mould as Swearin' and Speedy Ortiz. With a pretty, almost twee side to them too, they're at their best on songs like 'Hanford Riviera', when lilting guitars abound. Elsewhere, the band know how to let rip, tearing through their 'Pale Summer' EP with the kind of energy Best Coast would love to recapture. - NME Magazine (Print)

Calling your song “Nothing Better” sets the bar pretty high, but Tangerine’s new single jumps backwards right over it.

The Seattle four-piece plays giddy indie-pop as sweet as a sundae and cuter than a button store’s monthly inventory, capturing the whimsy often found on IFC sketch shows and in Euro twee acts like Camera Obscura and Lucky Soul — or, you know, The Cardigans. (I’m just mad that they’re not in Portland with me, so we can’t all hang out together at gluten-free juice bars.)

There’s a definite Pacific Northwest edge to the band’s plucky rhythm section, which thumps and fidgets with kick drums and a beard-scratchy bassline. Frontwoman Marika Justad sings with just a sprinkle of sass as she teases her way through romantic lines like “Say anything/ It’s you and me.” There’s even a guitar solo! If you like indie-pop at all, you will eat this up like a decidedly non-organic Vegas buffet.

“Nothing Better” follows the band’s similarly charming Radical Blossom and Pale Summer EPs, and it’s their highest-fi effort yet and the most catchy by far. Word of warning: Don’t play it if you have to do something in 10 minutes, unless that thing is listening to this song for the fourth time in a row. In which case, carry on. - MTV Buzzworthy

The Lineup: Marika Justad (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Miro Justad (drums, vocals), Toby Kuhn (guitar, vocals), Ryan Baker (bass, vocals).

The background: We heard about Tangerine from Everett True, the legendary rock writer. You should check out his website, it's really rather entertaining. Apart from recommending new bands, he says things like, "Believe in me and I have power like a God." Sometimes he says those things while he's recommending those new bands, in the manner of rock writers from ye olden days. Mr True is the only deity to ever spend all day at his desk at a leading multinational publishing conglomerate wearing a pyjama top and slippers, and we should know because we sat next to him for years. Anyway, the point is, we've bought many records encouraged by the aforementioned's feverish prose, and sometimes we feel like ringing him up to thank him for being so spot-on. Other times we feel like wringing his neck.

This is an instance of the former. Tangerine - and we make this pat observation partly prompted by the fact that they're from Seattle - are girl group grunge, or DIY meets doo wop. Four-part harmonies led by two sisters, Tangerine make sweet melodies that nod to '60s pop and a little to R&B (original and latterday varieties - no, seriously), guitar solos that are models of economy and lots of bashing, crashing drums. It's dreamy, lovely stuff, even at its most shambolic, and the sound is sort of mid-fi - not quite a tinny shambles, with enough polish and gloss to attract non-indie fans.

You can hear all about it on their new Radical Blossom EP, a follow-up to the Pale Summer EP. And if you're thinking from those titles alone it's all moon-June teen-pop tropes round Tangerine's way, then it's probably worth telling you that one of the tracks, Hanford Riviera, is about a leaking nuclear waste tank in Washington. The innocence and ingratiating tunefulness are deceptive, if not subversive. Lead song Feel This Way is a slow, swaying introduction, groovy as opposed to funky. It also has a chord sequence that their rivals - and to be fair there have been a lot of bands doing this kind of thing for a while - will be kicking themselves for not thinking of first. Knowing that Hanford Riviera is about toxic waste makes you question what the other three songs are about. When Marika Justad sings, "Went for a walk on a clear night" on Feel This Way, for example, is she alluding to the quiet before a nuclear storm? Hanford Riviera itself is another good one, Justad's voice having a pallid and jejune quality on the verses but assuming a full-bodied lusciousness on the chorus reminiscent of Neneh Cherry. By the wistful last-dance ballad Mars you start hearing subtextual horrors in every perfumed sigh ("Now I see the things I have are fading"). Final track the Runner is like Blondie doing ska. It's the fastest, most frantic one on the EP, sonically the most "edgy" and harsh. It's probably about gambolling through meadows with your honey-bunch. Nice one, ET.

The buzz: "I am a fucking lollipop on a fucking three-inch stick for this music."

The truth: Tang, tang - they're cred.

Most likely to: Bear fruit.

Least likely to: Be rotten.

What to buy: The Radical Blossom EP has just been released.

File next to: Summer Camp, Still Corners, Shirelles, Shangri-La's. - The Guardian