Philadelphia duo Marian Hill are poised to become your new favorite act to name-drop. With a slew of summer music festival appearances on their plates — Governor’s Ball and Bonnaroo, just to name two — vocalist Samantha Gongol and production artist Jeremy Lloyd are bringing their carefully layered sound to a wider audience.
What began as a musical experiment in Jeremy’s parents’ basement in the spring of 2013 is now a burgeoning career. The duo recorded “Whisky” during spring break and released it on SoundCloud that summer as a free download; a little over a year later, Gongol and Lloyd recorded their first EP in a bedroom, amassed millions of streams on various platforms, performed at sold-out gigs, and were featured in high-profile commercials.
Summer 2016 Festival Guide: Coachella, Governors Ball, Lollapalooza & More!
“I Know Why,” the latest release from their upcoming debut album Act One, is a bait-and-switch; the twinkling keys and sparse verses of the first few seconds of the song give way to a glitched-up, dubby beat. As she trades words with a lover who can’t let go of the past, Gongol shifts between understandable frustration and cool, enviable levelheadedness. “We can play that game forever/ Scratching out each other’s scars,” she suggests. “Tell me how would that be better/ Wouldn’t get us very far,” she then concludes, capturing the warring thoughts and emotions of the song’s narrative.
Marian Hill will be releasing Act One on June 24.