Jax and Seth Anderson are a brother and sister indie pop duo with a somewhat unusual songwriting process. For most of the year, the siblings live in different states collaborating back and forth via e-mail to produce their music. Jax handles melody, lyrics and vocals while Seth takes care of the backing music. They’ve named their ongoing project, Apples Trees & Tangerines. For this week’s “Liner Notes” edition, we asked songstress Jax about their peculiar track “Orange”. Despite the upbeat sound, the lyrics reveal a much different story as the underlying theme speaks to the effects of alcoholism on personal relationships.

The song “Orange” was written about a very personal event in mine and Seth’s life. Over the years, a person very close to us had come to develop a drinking problem. Every time either of us would see them they would be nearly incomprehensible with the way they carried themselves. It got to the point where we could hardly stand to be around them. They would consistently make a fool out of themselves while the company we kept sat watching thinking it was hilarious. I felt helpless in the situation because it was as if Seth and I were the only ones who noticed how bad it had really gotten. I guess, in a way, this song was our method of calling them out. The line “When you’re gone” is a reference to what our friend was most of the past few years; drunk.