Marsen Jules is known for his work on the mp3 label autoplate and later his two releases for city centre offices. Also his live performances both solo and with the classical trio Yara have his distinct sound.
In his music, which is built up around classical instruments and samples, Marsen Jules keeps a lot of room for silence. With a sound palette that is not strange to the music of Harold Budd, Marsen Jules composes music in a way that can be compared to Arvo Pärt. The compositions bring a combination of classical and ambient music with a keen eye for detail. The music has a warm sound that fits in with the upcoming holidays and celebrations.
Since his first mp3release "lazy Sunday funerals" ,for autoplate in 2003, every year has seen a new release. This year there is the third hardcopy album Golden released as cd on Genesungswerk.
The first notes of the album already show that Marsen Jules still plays music in the classical field. On this album the instruments used are guitar, piano and electronics. This, in comparison with his previous work is a step away from the use of strings.
The orchestration is much more diverse, though still he has a keen eye on looping sounds. New here is the use of glitchy sounds. Saying it are really rhythms would be too much, but Marsen Jules seems to borrow some of the ingredients he also uses in his other musical project krill.minima.
This seems to be an exchange for the warm reverbs he used on his previous work to enhance the lower sounds.
As a whole Golden is a good album and it is always a nice thing to see that a young musician tries out different approaches to his music. Though, a down side for me is the lack of warmth that was on his older works. Another turn off for me on is the parts where he plays long melodies on the guitar. It is a step a way from the more minimal structures that made his previous work so nice.
Not at all a bad release, and maybe a good one to get into ambient music, but for me a step back by Marsen Jules.
|
and 