To hear vocalist Marika Justad put it, her debut album with bandmate Toby Kuhn as Tangerine is a deeply introspective affair in being a collection of songs coping with a death in the family and the ensuing search for meaning in a universe that often seems to lack one. “It became an urgent question for me, this idea of how to reconcile with a world that is unreliable, one that seems to reject any simplistic sense of right or wrong, or of meaningful narrative that we try to place on it,” she shared upon the announcement of You’re Still the Only One back in August. “It’s like something just sort of broke open, and I found myself unable to look away from the primal forces at work in the world. I’m trying to tease apart the beauty from the ugliness.”
Given that intro to the album and its creators’ headspace when it was made, you may be surprised by the sounds of the ocean-breeze indie pop on display with its lead single, “Timeless.” It’s a sound heard again on the album’s newly released title track, which sees Justad contemplating her narrative over gentle, carefree riffs. As with “Timeless,” the band’s concept for the song is brought to life in its music video, with Justad’s sister Miró conceptualizing time-traveling imagery for “You’re Still the Only One.” “We liked the idea of riffing off of mythology (hence the character of the selkie) and transporting it into how it might’ve been represented at an old Victorian ‘freak show,’” she shares. “But ultimately, it’s all to portray an emotional journey of a person breaking free from a narrative that has previously caged them, and heading into the unknown of life—an experience that’s colored by the joyous appreciation of a longtime love for themself and also for someone else.”
Check out the music video below, and pre-save the album ahead of its arrival this Friday here.
