'Reclusive
Manchester-based outfit Marconi Union have steadily released albums of
pristine, clinical electronic music over the last decade and their
latest Beautifully Falling Apart sees them continue to refine their art
in minimalist fashion....Beautifully Falling Apart places Marconi Union
firmly in the vanguard of acts making atmospheric, ambient music...it
provides an absorbing, transporting experience and encourages the
listener to simply sit back and enjoy the journey as it unfolds.' MusicOMH
Since debuting in 2003 with Under Wires and
Searchlights, Manchester's Marconi Union have forged their own path
with a succession of strong albums and carefully selected live
performances and a steadily growing audience worldwide. All of this
despite barely uttering a word to the press. Their reputation has
swollen to the point where their album A Lost Connection hit the upper
echelons of The Sunday Times' Top 100 Albums of 2010, and where praise
flowed from Uncut ('an act whose music slinks stealthily around the
listener'), The Guardian ('gorgeous') and US radio show Echoes ('poetic
and almost classical').
'The
lazy comparison immediately points to Sigur Ros. Those layering
instruments that weave neatly on top of each other, added to those
shimmering pads that add a natural humanity... Thrills aren't created by
the suspenseful build ups our Hopelandic others use but are instead
created in the floating moments. It's an inertia
of euphoria as everything seemingly stands still, every touch you create
a subtle yet significant shift...As bells shimmer, they do so amongst
synthesised drums, bringing the mechanical to the natural. In that sense
Marconi Union create wonderful emotive music. This is music to not only
relax to but music to ponder to.' Drowned in Sound
Like their previous albums Distance, A Lost
Connection and Tokyo, their new album Beautifully Falling Apart is
inspired by a love of visual concepts. This time, the focus fell on the
contrast between the serene beauty of an image and the underlying harsh
reality. As they state: 'Picture the scene: late at night a gang of road
workers work under floodlights at the side of the motorway. One uses an
angle grinder to cut stone. He is lit from behind and surrounded by a
shower of sparks and shadows. In that moment you only see the striking
beauty of the image and forget about the hard, dangerous and dirty job
he's doing. Sometimes, things beautifully fall apart.'
As a whole, Beautifully Falling Apart is a more
textural piece when compared with the band's prior work. 'We wanted to
differentiate this from our normal recorded output it's a step sideways
rather than the follow-up to A Lost Connection.
'If this is what Marconi Union
intended to convey - this sense of beauty and destruction locking horns -
they've done it with aplomb.....like an avalanche, a volcano; such
striking, glorious and powerful images, both of which are capable of the
most extreme devastation.' The Line Of Best Fit
Anyone who has seen MU live in the past couple of
years will no doubt have been struck by the sight of them playing in
almost total darkness lit by the glow from slowly transforming video
paintings to create a stunning immersive experience. The video paintings
are the work of renowned artist Colin Lawson who has previously
published a book of paintings inspired by A Lost Connection. That link
will be reprised with the publication of his new book Beautifully
Falling Apart which again comprises pictures inspired by the album.
