For Mandolin Orange’s third album, the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based folk duo delves into themes of love, loss and morality. And also trees. “There’s a lot of tree references and we didn’t realize that until we sat back and listened,” says the band’s principal songwriter, Andrew Marlin. The album premieres today on Speakeasy below.

The first tree reference comes in the album’s title, “Blindfaller,” a word they made up to describe a logger who’s just going through the motions. “It’s somebody who is blindly cutting down everything and destroying everything, without knowing what they are destroying,” he says.

Marlin and fiddle player Emily Frantz recorded the album in one week in Chapel Hill, utilizing a full band much more than their previous two albums. “We always like to establish the 'duo core' on each record: we want the focus to be on what we’re doing,” Marlin says. “But this one, [we thought] ‘let’s try to not put it in any mold.’ I think the record benefits from that mindset.”

Formed in 2009 after meeting at a bluegrass jam at a local Tex-Mex restaurant, Mandolin Orange has garnered acclaim over the last seven years for their dedication to the craft of roots music. They’ve played numerous major festivals, including Austin City Limits, Telluride Bluegrass and Newport Folk Festival. “There’s some really great bands out there, all coming from honest places, all wanting to play with each other,” he says of the band’s experience playing in this genre. “It’s an amazing, thriving community right now.”