Genre: Electronica / Soundtrack

Track Listing:

01 Molemmat vanhukset Osa 1
02 Joulukuun ensimmäiset päivät
03 Saapuneen potin laatikosta
04 persoonallisuuksiemme sadetakit
05 Kaikki jotka pimeää hengittävät
06 Auringon holhouksesta vpautuneet
07 Molemmat vanhukset Osa 2
08 Sateen Hiipumisen Hetki (bonus track)



Marko Marin’s music is rooted firmly in the atmospheric electronic tradition of artists like Vangelis and this release offers an emotive string of compositions, each woven from batteries of synth. Canned percussion, canned piano, canned strings. It’s a marvel how such artificial raw material can be woven into honest and evocative music.

I have to admit, this is one of those releases that challenged me to confront my own prejudices. In general I have a strong distaste for electronic music when its production renders the proceedings blatantly artificial, or ‘plastic’ as I like to say.

A simple example – no synth piano will ever have the rich under and over tones of a true piano, and I don’t understand why, in general, anyone bothers with the substitute. I personally feel that if you don’t have access to the real thing then better not to betray your musical vision with a cheap electronic substitute.

You can imagine that at first I therefore resisted the impossibly clean, metronomic execution of this album; the whole damn thing screams MIDI from every pore. Yet repeated listens broke down my resistance and I have to admit – if this album had used real instruments it would have lost a lot of its charm.

The pieces are melodic to a fault and the music has a very vocal quality, with the various synthetic instruments almost singing, albeit wordlessly. That’s a remarkable feat at the best of times, but especially for music with this aesthetic. Ironically I really like the synth piano and think it works better with these compositions than a real piano would have!

The music also serves well in the atmosphere department, though I must say its spirit is generally quite light and even optimistic. It does range through a number of emotional palettes, but this release is neither gloomy nor melodramatic. I would guess that were he a classical composer, Marin would take after Mozart more readily than he would Mahler.

My only substantial complaint is about the programmed percussion, which is particularly flagrant in its artificiality. I must admit this is one area where a fuller, more organic feel would be welcome. I’m not entirely sure whether the production and timbre of this release is intentional or the product of limited resources, but certainly the drums (while not totally devoid of the necessary sway) are less than convincing.

But really this is just nitpicking on my part. It’s a very considered and carefully composed CD-R release with some catchy themes, clever arrangements and beautiful moments. Marin has subsequently worked on soundtracks (this release dates back to 2005!) and that seems like a natural progression for this artist. I really enjoyed this sincere and atmospheric, if slightly cheesy, CD and I’m curious to hear more of Marin’s work.