The young Traverse City indie-folk trio continues to make waves, earning widespread attention for its latest single as it eyes release of a new EP in June. Watch the video, download the song for free.
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Consider it a tribute to the Great Lake State, created and performed by one of Michigan’s most celebrated, up-and-coming indie-folk groups.
The Accidentals’ infectious and upbeat “Michigan and Again” – the first single off of the trio’s new EP being released on June 1 – clearly has struck a chord with fans and sparked a special reaction: The entertaining video for the song racked up more than 250,000 views on Facebook and YouTube in just 10 days and even soared as high as No. 2 on Reddit’s Indie Folk chart.
“It feels unreal,” said multi-instrumentalist Katie Larson. “We’ve been looking through all the comments and shares, and we’ve noticed a lot of people are sharing it to friends or family who have moved out of Michigan and feel homesick. The song brings out a lot of emotions in people. We live in a special place and it’s fun to see other people share that passion for it.”
The success of “Michigan and Again” – the Traverse City band’s first single in three years – even earned the band an interview with NPR News, as well as stories in numerous publications and media outlets.
Check out the video for “Michigan and Again” below. The song is available as a free download for one more week at moreaccidentals.bandcamp.com/. It’s also now available on iTunes.
“The reaction from our listeners has been incredible,” said bandmate Savannah Buist. “When the song started to go viral, we were floored that we could put it out there in an organic way in today’s music business and it would be embraced and shared and that it would be meaningful. Every day, we received stories from people who were touched and in return, those stories encouraged us to believe in ourselves.”
With lyrics that pay homage to the “home of the water” and “soft shoulders of sand dunes,” the catchy refrain says it all: “Michigan and again and again and again and again.” The song actually was born of a crowd-funding campaign that offered donors a chance to have a song written about a topic of their choice. A longtime fan from Ludington suggested a song about Michigan.
SUPPORTIVE MICHIGAN MUSICIANS, FANS AND ARTISTS
“We just started thinking about what we wanted to say. We always talk about how supportive the music community is in Michigan, but it’s not just the music community. It’s the people,” Buist said.
“Artists share their art with us, photographers share their gifts to promote us, music lovers send us gift cards, food, hope, inspiration, and we have second homes in every city in our state that house and feed us. We have found something beautiful in every part of the state. Our intention was to just show our appreciation for those things.”
The video, created by videographers Jake Burgess and Charlie Steen, includes picturesque Michigan scenes and footage of the band in the studio and on tour, with Larson, Buist and drummer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Dause dancing and jumping in front of welcome signs for the various states they passed through.
“The goal was to capture the essence of touring. It’s a bittersweet journey, equally beautiful and brutal,” said Buist, who was interviewed as the band was on its way back to Michigan. “Honestly, when we saw the video come together for ‘Michigan and Again,’ tears were shed on our end, too. To us, it was a perfect representation of what it’s like to travel and what it’s like to come home.”
The band recently wrapped up recording the final songs for the new EP in Austin, Texas, at Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio, after recording the first two songs at Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne, Ind. Traverse City’s Andy VanGuilder of HaloHorn Studios helped engineer the songs recorded in Austin.
Another single, “Parking Lot,” will be released on May 1. The full six-song, self-produced EP, with a “surprise” bonus track, will be released independently on June 1, the same day The Accidentals play Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City.
The band follows that with a June 2 show at Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, June 4 at Pumpstock in East Lansing, June 8 at the Magic Bag in the Detroit area and June 9 at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo. The Accidentals also will be performing at Buttermilk Jamboree in Delton on June 12.
“This EP is the real deal,” Buist said of the band’s first new album in three years. “It’s us, producing our own music, filter-free.”
VIDEO: The Accidentals, “Michigan and Again”
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