Tangerine Stage a Stylish Protest for "See You There" Video (KEXP Premiere)

While I could easily lament over the fact that, after eight years as a band, we still have yet to receive a full-length from former Seattleites TANGERINE, I won’t. I don’t think it’s a lack of focus or ambition that has delayed the record release. Instead it's a concept of perpetual growth and evolution. Real humans with real lives that don’t necessarily fit neatly into a record release schedule but still working to churn out masterful singles and EPs every year or so.

When we first met the band, they were a four-piece made up of sisters Marika and Miro Justad, Toby Kuhn, and Ryan Baker. Since then, the lineup has gotten cut smaller and smaller, with just Marika and Toby currently surviving. This worried me at first, since the sister aspect seemed important to TANGERINE’s story and lineage but, never fear, Miro is just in graduate school and doesn’t currently have the time to devote to the band.

In fact, she’s still an unseen member in many ways. Today, TANGERINE is sharing the video for their latest single “See You There,” directed by no other than the one and only Miro Justad. While, on the surface, the video seems like a breezy day in the Los Angeles sun with your best girlfriends, there’s a deeper meaning at play.

"As Asian-American women, we felt the heaviness of all the hate crimes this year and wanted to shoot something in defiance of that feeling,” explains Marika. “So we asked some friends to help us create a cheeky and fun Asian girl gang. The video shows us occupying public space without fear or reservation, living it up in our trench coats, something that feels deeply important in this moment.”

When the song initially premiered via Flood, journalist Matt Wollock read the song as a tribute to the loneliness we all felt during the pandemic. And, he’s still correct, but the extra layer of not just the global loneliness but a very specific kind of loneliness that comes from being a marginalized member of society turns the song into a form of protest. In this context, the lyrics “And it don’t really feel like that way /in the USA these days /but it’s OK /that’s a future dream /for you and me” hit different.

Especially following “The Coldest Winter,” the single that preceded “See You There,” TANGERINE’s evolution towards being more vulnerable and political seems like a massive step for a band that I described in 2018 as both “sunny” and “sun-drenched” (I hope I’ve found better synonyms since then). Death, ostracization, and loneliness may not be uplifting topics but they’re sure as hell relatable.

Below, watch the video for “See You There” as well as their KEXP in-studio session from 2016. TANGERINE will play Freakout Fest tonight, November 12th, at 9pm on the Tractor Tavern stage.