Album Review: Marble Raft – Dear Infrastructure
Some albums are dark forests, dense and thick, hard to break through and understand. Some are beautiful gardens, full of fruit trees and flowers. Some are desolate islands, still to be discovered. "Dear Infrastructure" from Marble Raft is a wondrous city.
With “Dear Infrastructure”, we wanted to create a neon-lit voyage of discovery in indie pop-form through a vast and eerie city. We hope the album will convey a sense of wonder and invoke curiosity with the shimmering dream pop-soundscapes as well as the lyrics. Come along on an indie pop journey along with the protagonists and get to know the ever-present metropolis that resembles a sprawling creature or deity made of steel and concrete.
Marble Raft
The record opens with a beautifully transparent and light-footed single "To Have and to Hold and to Break". The band's ambition was to capture "a moment saturated with anticipation, where you let yourself go and tumble into a dazed and euphoric state of mind". This is exactly how this composition feels. The vocals are inspired and weightless and everything else seems to be floating among clouds.
"Here in Your Backyard" uses the same set of equipment – ringing guitars, washy textures and ethereal vocals – to reach for a different emotion. The air is filled with fumes, we are straining our eyes, but all we see is ghosts:
"Here in Your Backyard" uses the same set of equipment – ringing guitars, washy textures and ethereal vocals – to reach for a different emotion. The air is filled with fumes, we are straining our eyes, but all we see is ghosts:
We’re all here working our charms
The subway berserkers, the market researchers
The meddlers, the stockbrokers, peddlers, we’re here in your backyard
We’re all here scouting for love
Your old algebra teacher, the homeschooled believers
Your disappointed elders, we’re here in your backyard
The subway berserkers, the market researchers
The meddlers, the stockbrokers, peddlers, we’re here in your backyard
We’re all here scouting for love
Your old algebra teacher, the homeschooled believers
Your disappointed elders, we’re here in your backyard
And then we get back on our feet with "Rites of Passage". The crisp drums and robust melody bring to mind Kate Bush, while the textures on the song can't be mistaken for anyone else – they sound exactly like Marble Raft.
"Wake Up Call" releases the tension that's been building up on the first few songs on the album – it's like a gentle sigh of relief, like an angel's touch. The two most memorable elements of the track are the complex rhythm part and the reverberated synth line.
"Marble Halls" is aimed "to bring the listener along on a voyage of discovery through grandiose scenes, though fragile and on the brink of collapse". Melodically the song reaches the same beauty as peak New Order, while sonically it stays among ice, crystals, clouds, springs, fumes and... magic marble halls.
"Intersections, Alleys and Freeways" is probably our favourite song on the album. Its melody is simple but it pulls the right strings so effortlessly that you lose sense of reality together with the song's heroes who "find themselves lost in the strange urban area, a place where roads and intersections create an utterly confusing maze that they are bent on making their way through".
"Floral Haze", on the other hand, seems to capture the moment of coming back to reailty:
"Wake Up Call" releases the tension that's been building up on the first few songs on the album – it's like a gentle sigh of relief, like an angel's touch. The two most memorable elements of the track are the complex rhythm part and the reverberated synth line.
"Marble Halls" is aimed "to bring the listener along on a voyage of discovery through grandiose scenes, though fragile and on the brink of collapse". Melodically the song reaches the same beauty as peak New Order, while sonically it stays among ice, crystals, clouds, springs, fumes and... magic marble halls.
"Intersections, Alleys and Freeways" is probably our favourite song on the album. Its melody is simple but it pulls the right strings so effortlessly that you lose sense of reality together with the song's heroes who "find themselves lost in the strange urban area, a place where roads and intersections create an utterly confusing maze that they are bent on making their way through".
"Floral Haze", on the other hand, seems to capture the moment of coming back to reailty:
They thought it through, they thought we could tend these weeds
It’s kind of cute, they left us with training wheels
But we’re confused, confounded, a restless kind
But we’ll commit, we’ll shape up, we’ll really try
It’s kind of cute, they left us with training wheels
But we’re confused, confounded, a restless kind
But we’ll commit, we’ll shape up, we’ll really try
Its melody and its mix possess a somewhat grounding quality that feels refreshing after the ethereal character of the preceding songs.
"Concrete Cathedral" is another sonically refreshing composition. It brings together heavy 80s-tinged drums, bubbling synths and epic vocals, creating a monumental piece, that feels like a sonic equivalent of gothic architecture.
"Neon Signs of Life" is notable for its melody that lies somewhere between a Celtic folk song and a modern children's lullaby.
The album closes with "Feral Haze" (what a beautiful name!). The track's deep vocals and exhuberant textures are enhanced by the ringing melodies and stuttering snare drums. We are freee now. We have reached the gardens of Paradise:
"Concrete Cathedral" is another sonically refreshing composition. It brings together heavy 80s-tinged drums, bubbling synths and epic vocals, creating a monumental piece, that feels like a sonic equivalent of gothic architecture.
"Neon Signs of Life" is notable for its melody that lies somewhere between a Celtic folk song and a modern children's lullaby.
The album closes with "Feral Haze" (what a beautiful name!). The track's deep vocals and exhuberant textures are enhanced by the ringing melodies and stuttering snare drums. We are freee now. We have reached the gardens of Paradise:
So here we are, Silver and Clover
You’ll be safe and sound on this holy ground
With owls and hounds
Guarding this temple compound
Through the days a cage for the enslaved
Now you’re free to roam
Graze these fields of gold
We have to go
This realm is meant for the wild ones
So let go, embrace this new home
You’ll be safe and sound on this holy ground
With owls and hounds
Guarding this temple compound
Through the days a cage for the enslaved
Now you’re free to roam
Graze these fields of gold
We have to go
This realm is meant for the wild ones
So let go, embrace this new home
What a great way to end the album that feels like a journey through a world that you never knew existed, the world built from stars and clouds, abandoned buildings and exotic flowers, gentle voices and levitating guitars. Marble Raft's sonic universe will appeal to fans of early New Order, Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins. However, its main attraction is that it never sounds exactly like anyone. Their brand of reverberated synth- and guitar-based goodness is totally unique and beautifully intoxicating. And the imagery of their lyrics adds even more layers to this deep landscape. "Dear Infrastructure" is a must-listen for everybody who values subtlety and who believes in the power of dreaming.