Mill Valley just got a gorgeous new entry into the canon of fantastic songs that pay homage to the beauty around us.
It comes from Tidelands, a duo of multi-instrumentals that play what they call “orchestral indie” rock that “achieves widescreen sonic grandeur,” according to iTunes.
One member of the duo is a familiar face to anyone who enjoys food – namely, the fantastic Mexican fare of 94941 landmark Joe’s Taco Lounge. By day, Gabriel Leis co-owns and runs the restaurant that his father Joe Leis opened in 1992 until his passing in 2003. When he’s not at Joe’s, Leis, a songwriter / guitarist / flugelhorn player, teams with drummer / keyboardist Mie Araki.
While the EP was released earlier this month, the spectacular video for the song “Old Mill Park,” directed by Elliot Jaramillo and shot with a drone camera flying the route from Cascade Falls to Old Mill, hit YouTube on March 19 and has already garnered more than 700 views.
Tidelands released If…, its debut full-length album, in 2011, and followed it with a another album, We’ve Got a Map, a year later.
Much like those album, Tidelands recorded and mixed the Old Mill Park EP at Bay Area indie rock stalwart John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone Recording studios in San Francisco.
The Old Mill Park EP features Vanderslice, along with Bay Area musicians like singer-songwriter Debbie Neigher and Magik*Magik Orchestra, the latter of which serves as Tiny Telephone’s go-to orchestra and has performed with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Chicago, Sting, Nick Cave, Third Eye Blind and Weezer.
Listen to and buy Tidelands’ Old Mill Park EP.