New Eye by Mark Marshall

There's a bunch of film nerds that know the words because of my singing!" - San Francisco, CA

“Crossing is one of the best things I've heard in a long, long time- damn it's good!!! The Flame is simple and beautiful” – New York, NY

Something to Believe:

“Love the intro - like a theme to a space movie. When the vocals came in it totally changed the song. This is the best song I've heard for ages. Highly original. Rock meets blues meet techno. Love it.” - Motherwell, Lanarkshire, United Kingdom

“Great Mood & Production Create Compelling Listen - This song has a fantastic mood and groove with top notch instrumental production.” - San Francisco, California

“wow, what a one-of-a-kind song. I've never heard anything like it. Fascinating.” – Norwalk, CA

“…quite captivating, makes you feel like there is something big on its way...then when the voice comes in it makes us feel like we must bop our heads..” - Durban, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

“I like that every few bars, there's something else that comes into the mix that makes you go OH... THAT'S COOL! At 1:11, when things drop out a bit and that one note sustains on the synth w/ the solitary piano notes... very nice! It's like a big breath of expectation. There's and quality to the voice that makes me think that this guy really means what he's saying! The mood is a nice calm ambiance with a tension lying just under the surface.” – New Hamburg, Canada

“I wish I could hear more great honest pop songs like "Something to Believe" - honest meaningful lyrics and great melody.” – Israel

“Hypnotic. Captivating. Great Concept. I Love It.” – Uniontown, PA

“Strong lyrics and delivery with feeling. Good structure...Hook was memorable...This song had a "WOW" factor once it got started. The lyrics express a feeling everyone can relate to…” - Port Saint Lucie, FL

“The voice has a characteristic timbre. Not mainstream, it is different. It is a pleasure to listen to.” - Graz, Austria

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recent net activity:

Something to Believe

#1 - rock showcase for over one month songvault.fm

top ten in pop/rock - broadjam

reviewer awards:

best programming overall, week of 14may2007

best programming in pop rock, week of 14may2007

best mood in pop rock, week of 14may2007

best keyboards in pop rock, week of 21may2007

garageband.com

Angelina

top 40 in pop/rock and alternative - songvault.fm

top 100 - alternative pop - garageband.com

Miss Directed

top 40 in pop/rock and alternative - songvault.fm

top ten in pop rock - broadjam

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Nineteen tracks, written and recorded by one man over a two-and-a-half year period. This album ranges from straight-ahead rock to sixties-tinged pop to lush instrumental, and tracks that don't fall into a category at all - but all with beautifully subtle, sometimes complex instrumental and vocal arrangements. This is handcrafted music at its' best, and there's something here for just about everyone.

A look at some of the tracks:

The album starts out deceivingly simple - what starts out as a straight cover of Creedence's "Travelin' Band", proves itself to be a funkified half-time redux all its' own - nevertheless, if one were to judge based on the first 4 minutes, the judgment would invariably be that this is just a rock and roll record. But when the vocal strains of "This Town", the second track on the disc, begin, it's immediately apparent that both as a vocalist and a composer, there's way more here than what appears at first glance.

The third track, "Another Night", kicks into high gear with some great guitar work and a wailing vocal. Again, not to fall into a mold, "Wanna Be There For You" follows, a sweet 2-minute ode to his son that nods in arrangement to everything from Tom Petty to Motown. It's here that we're first treated to a hint of what's to come in backing vocals - Mark's backing harmonies are lush and soaring throughout this disc, and add a deeper dimension everywhere they appear.

"Miss Directed" tells the story of a woman whose heart has closed as the result of an undisclosed slight, and right up 'til the end, appears to be a straight-ahead pop ballad about a broken heart. But when the end hits, and his voice travels up to a fine falsetto, he's not describing her pain as a spectator - he's singing as though he's felt it, turning the tune into an acknowledgement of pain and longing in a woman's heart that's rarely heard from a man.

"Something to Believe", a melodic funk-mash of a tune, thickly layered with strings, clavinets, drum samples and more, illustrates what seems to be his angry disillusionment with religion and his search for something more - but the chorus itself wryly nods to a gospel sensibility.

"Crossing", the simplest and yet possibly one of the most haunting tracks on the album, cinematically illustrates the helpnessness felt by survivors of family suicide - but also describes the surreal experience of retrieving the car, after his father's plunge from a bridge to his death, in the fall of 2000 - and driving that car back across the bridge from which he plunged.

"Angelina", a taut, finely-crafted 4-minute ode to unrequited love, which give more than a little nod to sixties AM radio pop hits, is both innocently crestfallen and yet somehow joyous - and gives a real indication of the depth of not only his writing, but the emotion beneath it.

There are several instrumentals on the album, which aptly illustrate the depth of Marshall's arrangements - "The Flame", "Chaste Chased" and "FilmFnk" could all have been plucked straight from a movie soundtrack. "Man Walking" struts from a plaintive piano melody over a driving rhythm section into a rollicking slam-funk tech wall, replete with sampled horns, snarling synth basses and a mad two-fisted piano. This is one to test the limits of your car stereo with, as is much of the album - great driving music.

About the artist:

"Regardless of what form of media you're talking about, Mark Marshall has been involved in it. In a career that spans over 20 years, he has worked in both the performance and production aspects of recorded and live music, video, radio, interactive, print and internet media projects. He is, for all intents and purposes, a media 'renaissance man'. Among his talents are those of narrator, vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, photographer, multimedia / print /audio / video / radio producer and designer. He has used these talents in a wide range of both commercial projects and artistic endeavors."

So begins his standard "industry" bio.... but it only hints at the whole story.

Mark Marshall was born in New York City, and grew up throughout the greater New York area, where he listened to the radio, sang, and taught himself piano and guitar at home. A gentle kid, he was harshly ostracized at school for being different, and, once in his early teens, spent most of his youth alone - often disappearing from school for a month at a time, while he wandered the streets of the northwest Bronx.

It was during this time that he started experimenting with recording multiple parts on a reel-to-reel recorder his dad had brought home.

Fast forward through over 20 years, during which he played and sang on other people's music sessions and live gigs - most notably a 2-year stint as one of the lead vocalists and section leaders of "New Voices of Freedom", a secular rock and roll gospel & funk choir.

And he recorded, and recorded...

Some four years after his father's suicide, when Mark moved to a third floor loft in upstate New York in 2005, a waking dream opened a door for him.

He describes it as "incredibly moving.... I woke up with the most profound sense of loss I had ever experienced. I wept for nearly an entire day." But out of that dream came the beginning of his public recording and performing career. "The dream itself ...it was a dumb romantic dream. But because of that sense of loss... I knew there was something bigger there...."

It was during that following day that the first of many new compositions, and a new vision, would begin to take shape.

The result of this journey, and that dream, is his first release - New Eye. Nineteen songs that run the gamut from Rock to Power Pop to long-form instrumental - all composed, arranged, performed and recorded by Mark.

He continues to work in the studio, and looks forward to recording more, and possibly contributing to a film as well. After completing a short film to accompany "Angelina", one of the vocal tracks from the album, he says "I loved doing that video...and I'm in the process of scripting some more videos for the album - and I'd love to do some music for film. I also have a whole bunch of long-form instrumentals that people have been telling me I should release on an album for years now. But I don't know...I'm not married to anything...it's about being open to whatever comes next. It's about the journey."

A journey that has been described, at least by one interviewer, as "Exquisite".

More information on Mark Marshall is available at www.markmarshall.com

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