There was a time when analog music and the emerging potential of digital creativity were seen as opposing camps. Admittedly, this position was held mainly by middle-aged rock fans who liked their music made by long-haired guys wielding guitars. But thankfully, sense prevailed, and I’m glad it did because, without this meeting of musical worlds, we would never have been given the beauty of the dream pop world and bands like Marble Raft, whose latest single, “Marble Halls” is the epitome of that genre.
This third single from the band’s forthcoming Dear Infrastructure album is that perfect melding of the analog and the digital worlds, a blend of shimmering synths and twelve-string guitars, scintillating sonic washes and chiming glockenspiels, and dancing deftly across the top, a gorgeous duet of boy/girl harmonies played to perfection.
Capturing the decaying majesty of wandering through the titular “Marble Halls,” ones now fallen from glory, a melancholic reflection of fading beauty and the transience of time made even more exotic by its trippy 5/4 signature.
This is glorious stuff, a beautiful collection of gentle sonic nostalgia and understated creativity, lush layers of delicate tones and deftly applied textures, and man, those rich and seductive vocals.
If anyone ever tells you that they don’t like music not made by people playing “proper instruments” because that is the sort of language they will use, find a physical copy of this single and hit them around the face with it. It’s all they deserve.
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