Head Room by Mark DuBerry

The album as a whole is a tapestry of different musical styles and philosophical explorations and has the feeling of a journey or a story. The title, 'Head Room' suggests a mental space, a state of mind, an inner world full of archetypal images and themes which is what the music is all about.

Review by Road Records, Dublin, October 2006:

“Mark DuBerry is a Dublin based songwriter blending the likes of jazz rock, electronic, prog rock and synth based compositions. This 8 track album is released through his own label. The album is a lovely blend of jazzy electric guitars, some almost classical acoustic guitar sounds and lush washes of synth. The overall sounds range from the almost Steve Reich like repetitive guitar sounds of opening track Tribute to a much more prog rock sounding version of the likes of The Future Sound of London, take in a bit of seventies breezy jazz rock along the way and you end up with a highly entertaining album.”

December 2006: The track ‘Stories’ is featured in programme 15 on Radio Muse, an internet radio station featuring independent songwriters and composers. Listen to the track and DJ’s comments at: http://www.musesmuse.com/radiomuse-15.html.

February 2007: The track 'High Flyer' reached number 12 in the American Idol Underground Electronica charts.

The album was mastered by Bob Katz at Digital Domain. Bob is a great mastering engineer who approached the project with sensitivity and care. The artwork was created by photographer and graphic artist Barry McCabe as an elaboration and visual extension of the music, suggesting motifs, atmospheres and feelings associated with the music.

Mark DuBerry is a guitarist and composer / songwriter from Dublin, Ireland. He plays and writes music which is a hybrid of electronic-ambient, progressive rock, classical and jazz-fusion. He has always been drawn to music which combines and blends different genres as he finds this sort of creative fusion the most interesting. Artists like Yes, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Weather Report, The Yellowjackets, David Sylvian, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Brian Eno and Pete Namlook are among his main influences. So he has given his particular style of music the name 'Electro-acoustic ambient rock with a jazz flavour'.

Mark played classical guitar in concert and other venues in and around Dublin in the early years of his career. Later on, he became interested in jazz-fusion guitar and composition and wrote music for jazz big bands and other groups in both London and Dublin. Among his projects at this time, he produced his first CD entitled 'Escalate'. The first track 'Freefall' won an award of merit in the Unisong International Song Contest in 1998. He also released an album of 'New Age music with depth' entitled 'Openings' which was a collaboration with another musician.

Mark was also lead guitarist in a Steely Dan tribute band which played gigs in and around Dublin for a number of years. He is currently concentrating on gigging the material from ‘Head Room’ as well as composing music for his next album project.

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