Photo by Rambo Elliott
Audio By Carbonatix
Brandon Marcel, who performs under the mononym .MARCEL., is on the kind of run most musicians only dream of. He’s been nominated for an Oscar (for co-writing “Like A Bird” from 2023’s prison drama “Sing Sing”), toured the world with his longtime friend Leon Bridges and is coming off the release of his debut solo album, “.ruth.” Now, he’s debuting a new music video for “Slow Nights,” a track from “.ruth.,” featuring Bridges.
“This project represents the moment I stopped hiding behind my experiences and started allowing them to speak through me,” Marcel said in a statement. “Working alongside Leon for so many years has shaped me in countless ways, and having him be a part of this chapter feels like a beautiful full-circle moment. This is not just a release — it’s an introduction to who I am.”
Bridges and Marcel met in 2014 during a show at Fort Worth’s now-defunct Live Oak Music Hall and Lounge. They became roommates and bandmates, and have remained close for more than a decade. The two have been omnipresent in each other’s lives, either in pictures or in the likes and comments of each other’s social media, celebrating their numerous achievements. After years of friendship that have seen the two living, recording and touring together, they have somehow managed to avoid letting any stereotypical bandmate woes derail their relationship. What’s more, their creative chemistry seems to have only strengthened their bond with time. Perhaps The Eagles should take note.
With all the time the two have banked up while working together, it only makes sense that Marcel brought Bridges in on a track for “.ruth.,” with the resulting “Slow Nights” serving as one of the album’s highlights. It’s a spacy R&B confessional about longing, with a beat tailor-made for easy listening. The midtempo track is lively enough for a night out and yet calm enough to wrap you in its melodic embrace if you’re listening at home.
“Toured around the world with my brother, but this song was born on those Slow Nights of Fort Worth back home,” the musician wrote in a post ahead of the video release.
As you might expect, the new video (directed by Dustin McLaughlin) sees Marcel and Bridges linking up at Fort Worth’s Low Doubt Bar tucked into the back of Tulips FTW. In between shots of them embracing their respective love interests, the two share a booth with friends in a cozy corner of the bar. For a second, you’d almost swear you’re in the breezier, western half of North Texas, there with them.
Marcel also describes the video as an important piece of his creative vision for the song, as it captures “the disconnect of being physically present but emotionally distant, serving as a visual extension of Marcel’s commitment to truth, vulnerability and transformation.”
Other tracks from “.ruth.” have music videos too, each showcasing an innovative aspect of Marcel and his regular visual collaborators’ ability to experiment with film techniques to create striking images without a multimillion-dollar production budget. Even though the album is new, some of the videos date back two years, to when these songs were originally released as singles.
“Charades” is another standout — it’s a black-and-white music video with a reduced aspect ratio, mostly composed of Marcel sitting in a field singing or dancing on a hilltop, silhouetted against the sky. It’s like an Ingmar Bergman film writ small with a bluesy pop soundtrack backing it up.
Another noteworthy visual accompanies “Blue Cups,” which is set at a gas station, where Marcel leans against a car, singing, while a young woman looks out a window at him longingly. It should not be nearly as engrossing as it is, but Marcel and McLaughlin make it look as if the entire sequence were plucked straight from a gritty ‘70s drama, with a gorgeous haze lending the video an outsized cinematic punch.
And yes, we’ve already added it all to our warm summer nights playlists.
