La Marée
La Marée sounds as if she should be another up and coming artist fresh off the conveyor belts of talent that are Québec's Cégeps or L'école national de la chanson, but while she did study at Montréal's McGill University and confesses to being a bit of a Francophile, La Marée's entrancing music actually comes via the Emerald City of Seattle. Yes, this is going to be another of those posts where I profess my undying admiration for yet another artist from Washington State (perhaps there really is something in the water)?
From the trio of songs that she has just recently released, there is most definitely something incredibly appropriate about La Marée's pseudonym; just like the tide there's a hypnotic tranquility - a natural ebb and flow if you will - to her music that will captivate and envelop the listener.
Living in the Pacific Northwest - under a blanket of clouds and surrounded by the cold waters of the Puget Sound - appears to have shaped La Marée's music. There's an underlying feeling of melancholia, as if La Marée is at her most creative and contemplative during the dark winter months. The song "Infinity" would seem to best illustrate how she relates and connects with her surroundings; a deceptively simple tune - just piano, subtle strings and a touch of multi-tracking on the vocals - "…I will be where the snow meets the sea…" yet which paints a vivid image of not only solitude but as the song fades to silence, one of the majesty of nature in all of its ruggedness…
On "Here in the dark" the vocals seemingly float on the gentle rhythms of intertwined piano and shimmering synths. As the song plays out it conjures an image of a chill winter's evening, yet one that is warmed by the thought of a returning lover…
I'm drawn by way that the songs — for all their introspectiveness - are tinged with hope and the way in which La Marée manages to balance the vastness of her surroundings by shifting the focus to an intense personal moment. It's this injection of warmth and perspective that makes La Marée's songs so heartwarming; "Into the sky" with its enduring image of entwined lovers alone amongst an endless landscape.
All three auto-produced songs are available via La Marée's Bandcamp page on a 'name your price' basis. I'd argue that they're more than worth shelling out the equivalent of a BarStucks or two.
La Marée (Bandcamp)
La Marée (SoundCloud)
From the trio of songs that she has just recently released, there is most definitely something incredibly appropriate about La Marée's pseudonym; just like the tide there's a hypnotic tranquility - a natural ebb and flow if you will - to her music that will captivate and envelop the listener.
Living in the Pacific Northwest - under a blanket of clouds and surrounded by the cold waters of the Puget Sound - appears to have shaped La Marée's music. There's an underlying feeling of melancholia, as if La Marée is at her most creative and contemplative during the dark winter months. The song "Infinity" would seem to best illustrate how she relates and connects with her surroundings; a deceptively simple tune - just piano, subtle strings and a touch of multi-tracking on the vocals - "…I will be where the snow meets the sea…" yet which paints a vivid image of not only solitude but as the song fades to silence, one of the majesty of nature in all of its ruggedness…
On "Here in the dark" the vocals seemingly float on the gentle rhythms of intertwined piano and shimmering synths. As the song plays out it conjures an image of a chill winter's evening, yet one that is warmed by the thought of a returning lover…
I'm drawn by way that the songs — for all their introspectiveness - are tinged with hope and the way in which La Marée manages to balance the vastness of her surroundings by shifting the focus to an intense personal moment. It's this injection of warmth and perspective that makes La Marée's songs so heartwarming; "Into the sky" with its enduring image of entwined lovers alone amongst an endless landscape.
All three auto-produced songs are available via La Marée's Bandcamp page on a 'name your price' basis. I'd argue that they're more than worth shelling out the equivalent of a BarStucks or two.
La Marée (Bandcamp)
La Marée (SoundCloud)
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