Single & Video Premiere: Molly Brandt, “Sunup”
The rising Twin Cities country diva’s new song conjures a “desert disco” in a daring evolution of her sound, brought to life with a spicy, hallucinatory video. Watch it first here!
“Sunup” cover art by David Placer.
Molly Brandt swaggered onto the Twin Cities music scene a couple years ago an alt-country diva, sporting Nudie-inspired Western wear and singing of dive bar hookups, two-stepping, heartbreak and cold-blooded revenge. From the very beginning, her sound was more expansive, bringing in indie rock and other elements, but her overall vibe was firmly rooted in country music.
As Brandt began to write and record her second album (American Saga, which comes out September 27), she hinted that her sound would evolve, though new singles like “Daughter of the Oil Tycoon” and “Mr. Texas” showed fans she wasn’t abandoning her affinity with blue-collar stories and flair for rhinestone-studded drama.
But she’s serious about pushing boundaries and not getting pigeonholed. Today you can get a glimpse of just how serious with her new single “Sunup” and its accompanying music video. We’re honored to present the exclusive premiere of both the single and video!
“Sunup” video still, featuring artwork by David Placer.
Brandt shares how the song, co-written with guitarist Eric Carranza, came into being. “Eric had this idea of what instrumentals would sound like for a ‘desert disco’ and I started brainstorming words, phrases and images that his instrumentals conjured up. He’d also been ruminating on the idea of a song called ‘Sunup’ or one that used that word, which we both really liked. So I took his music and started singing over top of it on my own, repeating that word ‘sunup’ and imagining a scene in my head: a wild psychedelic drug trip in the middle of a desert that included dancing, lovemaking, and transformation into a metaphorical ‘turquoise lizard’ who felt everything deeply and beautifully.
“I drew lyrical inspiration from several sources: a quote from the HBO series Deadwood (‘find our proper stride’), as well as the Olivia Newton-John song ‘Have You Never Been Mellow,’ Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ imagery, The Beatles’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’—as well as my own imaginings and experiences with psychedelic drugs. It’s probably my most salacious song to date and a huge detour from my usual genres/vibes that hopefully will break new ground in the Americana genre, adding my own twist to dance pop.
“The song is about letting loose, feeling oneself, enjoying the trip, and overall just having a good time with the music. It also features the group The Sunsettes—a group of women (myself, Adriana Rimpel of Lady Midnight, Lauda La Artista and Jade Selmer) formed by Eric Carranza and featured on his band Jest’s newest EP Sunsets.” (This supergroup also appeared on “Daughter of the Oil Tycoon.”)
The music video for “Sunup,” designed and produced by David Placer, brings Brandt’s psychedelic imaginings and Carranza’s “desert disco” to life with hypnotic animation and suggestive imagery. Taken together, the fluid Americana dance-pop sound, racy lyrics and trippy visuals make a bold and definitive statement: Molly Brandt’s an artist who won’t stay in one place for long, defying simplistic descriptions and rigid genre boundaries.
Watch “Sunup” now!
“Sunup” Video and Single Credits
Music Video Animation/Design/Production: David Placer
Cover Art: David Placer
Songwriting:
Music & Lyrics by Molly Brandt
Music by Eric Carranza
Musicians:
Lead Vocals: Molly Brandt
Backing Vocals by The Sunsettes (Adriana Rimpel, Lauda La Artista, Jade Selmer, Molly Brandt)
Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keys, synth, additional percussion: Eric Carranza
Drums & aux percussion: Dave Power
Pedal Steel: Frank Lloyd Anderson
Single Production:
Co-Producers: Eric Carranza and Molly Brandt
Tracked at Museum of Being and Honeytone Studio
Tracking Engineers: Patrick Boland, Jeff Patlingrao, and Eric Carranza
Mixing Engineer: Patrick Boland
Digital Editing Engineers: Eric Carranza and Jeff Patlingrao
Mastering Engineer: Gavin Lurssen
Mastered at Lurssen Mastering
Mixed at Honeytone Studio Neenah, WI
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carol Roth. Photo credit: Dan Lee.
Carol Roth is the primary writer, social media manager, podcast producer and event-calendar updater for Adventures in Americana. By day she’s a marketing writer/brand strategist. In addition to playing guitar and songwriting, she writes self-proclaimed “trashy” novels under the pseudonym T.A. Berkeley.
