Universe by Marie Marx

howdy pop pickers

yes, another music post for the month that is this month, look you see. well, i appear to have been getting my ears wrapped around a fair few new tunes of late. and why not, for this is how life should be. in this instance, it's a very welcome return from, as the title gives every clue, Marie Marx.

it doesn't really feel like all that quite so long ago when I heard Marie for the first time. that was an album stumbled upon by chance called This Is The Thing, which you can read of by clicking here. quite a surprise to see that i first heard it over four years ago. to be honest yes, a lot of discs go through my stereo, but that was one which found itself being played a fair few times. actually, i remember "finding" it again as i recently packed up my collection, and yes it did get another play. still as good. 

but that was then, this is now, and we have a new record. it's called Universe, and it's a wonderful, enjoyable listening experience. going on reports i am seeing, however, you may well be aware of this already, as happily Marie and the record are getting some attention from radio stations home and abroad. 

whilst nowhere near as iconic or culturally as important as the origins of the old grey whistle test, i do have a form of "test" for new music. i, as you may have guessed from several years of this blog, really love writing. just about always, i wish for, want, need and provide music as i write. so, whenever some new music comes my way, i sit and write, be it for here or correspondence to a friend. for want of a better word, the measurements are how often i pause to turn up or down, to do the unthinkable of skip, or just down tools and listen for a bit. 

so, let's apply that test. i was writing some (formal) correspondence to a good friend, pressed play. the first song, the titular Universe, starts off with just Marie's voice. oh, that's bold, i said, and welcome. one or two words got typed, but mostly i found myself not distracted but fascinated by how the piano rolled around on my speakers. song two, which i now know to be a lead single for the album, Am I Enough? comes on. very little typing, oh there's some depth to how she's singing, that quasi-country guitar is really, really good, this is great. 

by song three, Chasing Rainbows, the only thing i typed (and this is normal for my letters) was sorry, will be back in half an hour or so, i am listening to this album now. there's a playful, enchanting whimsical feel to this song, and in truth it was the "feel" of it that i loved so much from the other album. not, i stress, a carbon copy, though, this carries every sense of being fresh and yet refreshingly, immediately familiar. 

comparisons are never really fair, but often the only practical way to word an idea of how a record sounds. effectively, the nearest closest i can give you for a "if you like this" is probably, allowing for different genders, Crowded House. same smooth, soothing, enjoyable audio experience, hearing someone has taken a song to the perfect level of harmony and melody through sheer will of passion. 

at some point, i don't remember or recall where (but wish i could give credit), i learned of the basic secret to acting. that is, the whole trick is not to learn the lines, but to feel them. the same is all the more true, if not more so (i know that makes no sense, but bear with me) with music. a lot of my quarrel with all this "new" music is too much of it is just someone going "on, those words work together, they shall do", and filtering the sound so it works on something like a streaming service, or a singular wireless speaker. here, on Universe, it all comes out great purely because the singer is singing exactly the words they wish, working the music to sound entirely as it should. 

for those of you a bit tired of my writing at this stage, indeed you can with some immediacy here some, if not all, of the album. streaming is indeed convenient, and i believe you can find Marie Marx on all those services, be it Spotify, Apple or the others. there's a video for the first single, Am I Enough?, which you can find by clicking here. i am absolutely thrilled for Marie to see, at the time of writing, the number of views (or "hits", kids) is well north of 10,000. 

my imagination sometimes (daily) gets the better of me. but, to my mind, once upon a time (or perhaps even now in this brave new world) this is the sort of gem of an album you'd discover by virtue of getting a lift from a friend of a friend, or even a friend's parent, and they had the tape in the deck. or, for a different audience, you'd find yourself in a pub or bar, this was playing and the conversations were all unusually hushed as subconsciously all in the place had an ear keenly on this music. every now and then i have a fear that with all the filters now gone, where anyone has the freedom to make and release music, so much is being lost and missed. and then i become aware that i can still discover and love a record like this, one which will be played often and makes my day a whole lot better. 

to the business end, if you will, or how to access this album. well, your starting point should probably be over at the Marie Marx facebook page, which is found right here. unsure what they do with any international orders (perhaps you should stick with the streaming things, but the disc and artwork are beautiful), but free postage in the UK comes with the CD or the record, found over here. 

personal favourites? well, the choice of lead single to be released ("dropped", kids, i know) is outstanding. but, after two (or three) listens the previously mentioned Chasing Rainbows and the truly brilliant Crown of Thorns stand out the most. yet this is a record to be played in full, which is the greatest compliment i, or anyone else, could pay any artist. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!