Video: Watch Alex Borstein From 'Marvelous Mrs Maisel' in Music Video From Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra

Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra will release their fifth album, Did You Do The Thing We Talked About? on February 16. The quartet announced the LP with the heartfelt opening track "Talking To Bonnie" at the end of the year and today shared "Mess That Summer", with a video starring Alex Borstein from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

"I met Alex on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel when our band was cast in the show's first season," says Lipton. "But something about her felt very familiar. Turns out we'd gone to day camp together 150 years earlier.

“A few months ago, I was sitting on my couch thinking about concepts for a 'Mess That Summer' video when I got a text from Alex, and suddenly I had a vision of us making something funny and joyful together. I asked her if she could come out and play, and miraculously, she said yes.

“I wrote up a treatment, then roped in Gibson Frazier to direct and produce. We rented a space from a company that sells Brazilian furniture and shot the video in a day. And we had a blast. The song is about an individual who's gone through a tricky time — by this point in my life, everyone I know has had one of those messy summers. But adding Alex shifts the story, and the video is about a couple who've had to navigate that individual's tricky time together, and all the complications that brings. I love it when a music video can represent a song but also become its own thing." 

“For me, playing straight man to Alex's genius was an all-time treat. And we all loved working with her. She's not just talented, she's also kind, irreverent and generous. At this point, we're basically ready to have her join the band.”

Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra write music steeped in 20th-century American traditions—jazz, folk, country, blues, and rock—but tackle modern subjects with urgency, humor, and a well of deep feeling. The quartet has released four studio albums and created the musicals No Place to Go and The Outer Space, both produced by the Public Theater in Joe's Pub, and have toured the U.S. and Europe.

Next week, EL&HO will once again take over their sacred home turf of Joe's Pub for performances on January 25 and 26 at 7pm. Tickets are on sale now at the Joe's Pub website.

Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra has been a band since 2005 and features Eben Levy (guitar), Ian Riggs (standup bass), Vito Dieterle (sax), and Ethan on vocals. Ethan writes the songs and the quartet arranges them via telepathy and Doritos. It all adds up to a cockeyed view of an odd, disjointed age.

The band has played venues including SF Jazz, Celebrate Brooklyn, MASS MoCA, the Flynn Center, The Green Music Center, Arts Emerson, Dublin's Pavilion, the Gate in London, The Troubadour, Theatre de la Ville, Pitchfork Paris, and ATP.

Amid the pandemic, the group considered hanging it all up. "We've had a run that would make my teenage heart tremble," continues Ethan. "We've played music in crazy places, built an audience that got what we were doing, blurred the lines between theater and music in a way I'm really proud of. I've loved playing with these guys, and what we've had has been special. But maybe, I thought, it was time. Maybe we should call it a day? Play a final show for the hometown crowd and go out while the getting is good?

"Or, I thought, we could make another fing album. Play the s out of some of these songs we've been playing, write some new ones, and maybe try to find that feeling again?

"And that's what we did. We set up in a big room, and our man Eben engineered the entire thing. We recorded in whole takes, with no overdubs or extra tracking, just the four of us playing together in a shared space. It was hard work, especially given how annoying we all are, but it did the trick. The feel came back.

"The songs on this album are about some of that rocky terrain we've all been walking," says Lipton of the LP. "They were songs I needed to write, and songs we needed to play. I hope they make you feel something too.”

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