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May 11, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Joe Hottinger

Ida Mae, the husband and wife duo of Chris Turpin and Stephanie Turpin, are returning later this summer with their sophomore record, Click Click Domino. After relocating to Nashville and debuting in 2019 with Chasing Lights, the band followed with their 2020 EP, Raining for You. With their new record, the band took to the studio themselves, engineering their vintage mix of soul, blues, and Americana into spontaneous one or two-take performances. The band have already shared “Click Click Domino” and “Road To Avalon” from the record and are now back with a new single, “Little Liars,” premiering early with Under the Radar.

“Little Liars” finds the duo crafting an evocative swirl of instrumentation. A chiming sparse mandolin line carries the melody while a drum machine provides the rhythm. As the track goes on, the mandolin is joined by earthen bass lines and the occasional twinkle of synths, all weaving together into an off-kilter haze where old meets new and tradition meets invention. The duo subtly builds the tension higher but never quite offers the expected release, making for a track that is spacious and bare but dripping in atmosphere.

As the band explains, “‘Little Liars’ is a runaway song, the first person whisperings of a seductress that you’ll follow whatever the consequences. This song was written on a late 1800s Mandolinetto (Mandolin) that we picked up at the end of a tour in Nashville and what you hear on the record is actually the demo. We have a growing collection of vintage drum machines and the off-kilter pairing of an early American made parlor / jug band instrument and a hip hop sampled drum machine created a very distinctive atmosphere. Stephanie Jean’s live vocal performance on the demo was a first take and it had such a dark and playful intensity we didn’t want to change it. ‘Little Liars’ also has become increasingly poignant to us as 2021 has continued.” Check out the song below and watch for Click Click Domino, out July 16th via Thirty Tigers.