Alex Marsh - Trellis (Not Not Fun)

The Slow Music Movement
2 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 17 hours ago

*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's May 7th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***

A new batch of Not Not Fun releases is always a cause for celebration. Not only has the label introduced me to a raft of great new artists it’s also seriously TSMM attuned. Even if I can’t find a start to finish listen amongst the latest albums I gleefully and somewhat cruelly separate the best tracks from their natural home and rehouse them in my playlists. One album in its entirety did jump out at me this week though, this release from Alex Marsh who I’d never heard of previously.

This new LP sees the mysterious Marsh descend from the new age stratosphere for a somewhat more grounded release, their usual wispy, well meaning electronica part exchanged for the more gravity beholden autoharp, upright piano and vintage Yamaha keyboard, and given further weight by clarinet, chimes, bells and cymbals; although those more in favour of traditional arrangements and familiar tunes will be sorely disappointed, Marsh is a committed cosmic tripper whatever their creative tools.

Mainly due to the autoharp, this release heads to more familiar spiritual realms with a vibe not unlike Alice Coltrane’s less rhythmic seventies output, the collage of short transcendental expressions from the core instruments expertly woven into an enlightening sonic path along forgotten hippy trails, in search of easier to grasp explanations for recent lysergic revelations, the piano motifs, harp flourishes and keyboard sounds seamlessly mixing and matching to line the winding trail with a luminous astral carpet to show the way.

There is an improvisatory feel to the recording, as if a double-dosed jazz trio had eschewed ego and were on a minimal mission to convert the non-believers, although there is arrangement method to Marsh’s madness not to mention some serious cosmic flow, as they create what he describes as “horizontal ecosystems of sound”, and who am I to disagree?