NMR Artist Spotlight: The Blue Hour
The Blue Hour blends dream pop, synth wave, and industrial with hints of psychedelia, folk, and electronica to create hauntingly beautiful songs, focusing on texture and rhythm and discord ... and magic.
What inspires your music? What is your story?
The Blue Hour’s new
album, “Always,” is a tale of romance and loss and finding magic in the most
unexpected places. It is Marselle and my story. She and I met many years ago as
teenagers. She was homeless, living on the streets of Seattle. I soon followed.
We drifted from the glitz of dance clubs to the squalor of abandoned houses,
sleeping in door stoops, church yards, or curled on a hot-air vent in the
shadow of a grand gothic building on the university campus. And the whole time
Marselle sang, filling those neglected spaces with an ethereal beauty, singing
Kate Bush or Nina Hagen note-perfect.
It wasn’t desperate
however. Everywhere we went, we created a fantastic world. Even though we could
be run out of a squat at a moment’s notice, she and I transformed our spaces
into fairy tale homes, decorating ramshackle rooms with remnants of tapestry
and paisley, tea candles, and artwork torn from magazines. When Marselle begged
for spare change, she did so with a lightness that came from a belief that all
would be well. But then we lost each other—we simply missed meeting up one day
and never saw each other again. Our memory of that time was like a dream that
cast a long shadow over our lives, insisting that beauty and magic is real. It
was one of those dreams that you never want to let go of.
When we finally
found each other again, we were ready to write those songs she’d been singing
all those years ago, and we were ready to tell our stories.
Musically, we draw
inspiration from a wide range of music. We both love the ethereal vibe of early
4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil and the beat-driven music
of new wave and chill wave. For my part, I’m drawn to abstract electronic
music, ranging from David Bowie’s “Low” to Current 93 and Coil, and the emotive
electronics of Portishead, Bat for Lashes, and Phantogram. Basically, we like
music that makes us move and feel.
What makes your
music extraordinary/different?
The experiences that
Marselle and I went through were quite different from most. To us, survival is
finding beauty—even transcendence—in the most difficult situations. When you
are really put upon, you show that spark that is your true essence. We try to
reflect that in our songs, blending layers of distortion and dissonance with
Marselle’s soaring vocals and harmonies rising above the noise, transforming
it. For example, the song “One More Mystery” is a gorgeous vocal performance
about begging for enough change to buy one more day of our magical existence.
“Fire on the Rooftops” is a duet about finding a place to sleep, about the city
being full of empty spaces we can crawl into to escape the dangers of the
night.
I hope that our
songs give people a sense of story. In addition to music, I write
fiction—mostly magical realism—which I try to incorporate to give our lyrics
depth. The words are glimmers of a bigger picture, hinting at worlds unseen.
The song, “False Moon Glow,” for example, is based on a short story I published
several years ago called “Imitation Moon, Imitation Night.”
I think that what
makes us unique musically is that we returned to music later in our lives.
Because of that, we have learned to be fearless when it comes to experimenting
with sound and blending genres. We have nothing to lose for trying. For
example, Marselle recorded the vocals for two of the songs on “Alone” on her
iPhone using her earbuds as a microphone. Technically wrong; but doing so gave
her the right environment to put herself into the song, so why not?
To me though, what
really sets us apart is Marselle’s voice. I am constantly in awe of her vocals
and top-line writing. She elevates my music, taking it places I hadn’t
imagined. Her melodic sophistication is inspiring.
What are your
plans for the upcoming year?
Marselle and I just
completed our new album and are working to secure a label that can distribute
our music more broadly that we can. In the meantime, we plan to release a
series of bi-monthly singles though our Bandcamp page to keep things exciting.
We also plan to work on videos for our music and some soundtrack projects. We
occasionally play live and will update our show calendar on our social media
streams.
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