VIDEO PREMIERE: Ancient Cities Create Intriguing Alternate Reality With “Marmalade”

Formed in North Carolina in 2013 by multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Stephen Warwick, Ancient Cities melds well-crafted lyrics with fuzzed-out guitars, hints of psychedelia, and a pop sensibility. Warwick gained noteriety in 2010 with his lof-fi folk endeavor titled Talking Machine, receiving local acclaim as best song-writer and landing on Shuffle Magazine’s top 10 list of best albums that year.

Seeking a new musicial outlet, Warwick headed back to the studio and enlisted friends to join him in the for . Towards the end of the recordings, Justin Fedor (The New Familiars) joined Warwick and the two set out as a duo for their first tour under the name Ancient Cities, after a dream Warwick had as a child. July 2014 marked the release of Ancient Cities’ self-titled debut album, and they expanded their live sound with a rotating cast of musicians. Current line-up includes Justin Faircloth on organ/synth and Matt Curl on drums.  Ancient Cities released their sophomore LP Supermoon Blackout July 1st, an album that captures the band’s progression from folk oriented rockers to full on psych rockers

Glide is premiering a video the video for “Marmalade” (below) featuring an all-female cast in an alternate reality where musical equipment is illegal. The song is rich in psych/reverb and offering a full plate of rock at its most transcending. 

“Justin Reid Tvedt and I came up with this idea of an alternate reality where instruments and other musical paraphernalia is illegal.” says  Warwick about the video. “However, with any art it’s definitely left up to the viewer’s interpretation. Are the characters hallucinating, is it all just a dream? Somewhere in the brainstorming process Tvedt suggested we use an all female cast portraying men, which I was completely on board with explaining to him about a law that just passed in my home state of North Carolina called HB2. For those unfamiliar, it bans individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond with their biological sex as dictated by their birth certificates, as well as bars cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances to protect gay and transgender people. The video itself is fun and lighthearted, but this was our way of showing love to everyone no matter what gender they relate to.”

Photo by Giles Clement