Will Schube also got taken by the gypsies in Berlin.
It begins with a bit of advice. “Mix some water with your wine, young Davey. Take some time, Madeline.” Yoni Wolf plays marriage counselor in the willfully undercooked concept collaboration between Wolf and David Cohn, better known as Serengeti. “Madeline” is the third track on the duo’s album, Yoni & Geti. The song continues the plight of newly married couple Maddy and Davey, who are having some trouble as Davey hits the road with his band shortly after tying the knot.
Serengeti’s music is never fictional, but it’s never strictly adherent to biography, either. The truth is always more and less than Cohn makes it out to be. This is Cohn’s second record with WHY?’s Yoni Wolf, who produced a bunch of his excellent Family and Friends, too.
On “Madeline,” Wolf leads the way with the first verse—that infectiously nasal voice narrating Davie’s story for him. Wolf’s ability to turn a phrase isn’t lost here, as he half-raps, “You’re living loose and playing hoops at the Woman’s Christian Youth at the edge of town.” The video begins with a split screen as Maddy literally walks out of Cohn’s life and into Yoni’s.
Yoni and Maddy paint nails and do yoga while Davie does the dishes and attempts a few sit-ups in his now lonely apartment and even lonelier half of the split screen. The video’s equal parts playful and sad, as is the track. The chorus is instrumental before giving way to a Cohn-led double-time finale. He sings, “It has been a cold Autumn December,” and even though Summer’s coming, it doesn’t sound as if Davey’s taking any solace in the coming change.
