On "Selling Out" and Influence: Q&A With Philadelphia Alt-R&B Duo Marian Hill

Forget everything you thought about musicians selling out. Yes, what was once tantamount to sacrilege among many a trendy artist is now a viable avenue to the public's embrace. Specifically: Philadelphia alt-R&B duo Marian Hill's song "Down" broke through last year after Apple used the track in its iPhone 7 AirPods ad. Instead of turning their nose up at the idea of their music being used to help sell a major corporation's product, the duo – comprised of sultry, retro-voiced frontwoman Samantha Gongol and breakbeat-adept producer Jeremy Lloyd – were thrilled to reach a mass audience via the ad, especially considering the fragmented music landscape in this day and age, when so many artists struggle to reach the Platinum sales that "Down" attained after the marketing bump from Apple. Gongol tells us about all that and more ahead of Marian Hill's Aug 9 gig at Tango.

Your group's name was inspired by two characters, Marian Paroo and Harold Hill, from the musical The Music Man. How did that production inspire you?
The only influence The Music Man had on us was bringing us together as friends! We look back on it fondly and its a nice way to remember how far we've come and how long we've known each other.

For those of us who aren't familiar with Philly's music scene, how would you describe it?
Honestly, for us, the scene that had the most influence on our music and who we wanted to be as artists was the internet. We came up in a time when Hype Machine was flourishing and so many new artists were breaking through on there by pushing boundaries in electronic and pop music. When we were making our first songs we were thinking about how they'd resonate within that scene, and we're indebted to the many blogs that maintained it for so many years.

Despite being modern, cutting-edge, internet-savvy artists, you don't ignore musical tradition by any means. In fact, much has been made, in prior profiles and write-ups, about how jazz and blues inspire Marian Hill.
Yes, but we really stumbled into it. "Whisky" was a song among many that just happened, and sounded like nothing else. Then we studied it to learn what made it magic, and it was the fusion of a more bluesy melody and vocal style with big, deep electronic drums. Since then it's been so fun to dig back into our favorite blues and jazz singers, like Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Nina Simone, and more, to try to find more ways to explore that blend.

How did it feel to have "Down" become such a smash hit after it was featured on the Apple Air Buds commercial? 
It was an amazing feeling. It didn't quite feel real when it was happening. "Down" was always a special song for us, which is why we put it first on our album. But our album had been out for a year before the "Down" ad happened. So seeing a song have such a second life was crazy. It's really gratifying for us to know that something that resonated so much with us also resonates with so many people around the world.

In the past, it seems like many musicians were closed-minded about having their songs used in ads because they were worried about appearing to have "sold out." How has that changed these days?
It's easy to guess this from our track record, but we think it's great! It's an awesome way for artists who sound a bit different than the mainstream to get in front of a massive audience. And "Down" was the perfect example of how that can work. A great song sometimes just needs to be played for a big ol' audience.

Marian Hill will perform at Tango 3F on Aug 9 at 8.30pm. Tickets are RMB 330, RMB 280 (advance), RMB 240 (students).

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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos: Billboard, The Key, respectyouryoungers.com