16 July 2 - 8, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ▼ NEW MUSIC SLOW AND STEADY FORT WORTH ARTIST .MARCEL. TEAMS UP WITH LEON BRIDGES FOR A “BEAUTIFUL, FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT” WITH “SLOW NIGHTS.” BY AUSTIN ZOOK B randon Marcel, now going by 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.,” in March. Now, he’s ready- ing for the release of a new music video for “Slow Nights,” a track from “.ruth.,” featur- ing 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 be- came roommates and bandmates and have remained close for more than a decade. The two have been omnipresent in each other’s lives, either in the pictures themselves or in the likes and comments, celebrating each other’s numerous achievements. After years of friendship that have seen the two living, recording and touring together, they have somehow managed to avoid letting any ste- reotypical bandmate woes derail their rela- tionship. 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 the club and 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,” . MARCEL. said ahead of the song. As you might expect, the new video (di- rected by Dustin McLaughlin) sees him and Bridges linking up at Fort Worth’s Low Doubt Bar tucked into the back of Tulips. In between shots of them embracing their re- spective love interests, the two share a booth with friends in a cozy corner of the bar. You’d almost swear you’re in the breezier, western half of North Texas there with them. Other tracks from “.ruth.” already have their own music videos, all innovative show- cases for .MARCEL. and his collaborators’ ability to experiment with film techniques to create striking images without a multi- million-dollar production budget. Even though the album is new, some of the videos date back two years, to when these songs were released as singles. “Charades” is among the standouts — it’s a black-and-white music video with a re- duced aspect ratio, mostly composed of .MARCEL. sitting in a field singing or danc- ing 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, again, takes place at a single location, a gas station as .MARCEL. leans against a car singing while a young woman looks out a window longingly at him. It should not be nearly as engrossing as it is, but .MARCEL. and regular visual col- laborator McLaughlin make it look like the entire sequence was plucked straight out of a gritty ’70s drama, with a gorgeous filmic haze lending the whole video an outsized cinematic punch. He says the new video “captures the dis- connect of being physically present but emotionally distant, serving as a visual ex- tension of .MARCEL.’s commitment to truth, vulnerability, and transforma- tion.” We’re already adding it to our warm summer nights playlists. Fort Worth artist .MARCEL. has a gorgeous new video out for “Slow Nights” featuring Leon Bridges. Rambo Elliot | B-SIDES | ▼ Music
