Skip to main content

EXCLUSIVE NMR Artist Spotlight: the Blue Hour


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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

EDGY New Film : Special Needs Revolt! A man with Down syndrome is on a mission to save America from a racist dictatorship

Special Needs Revolt!  Is an action-horror-comedy film. The film's hero, Billy Bates, who will be played by up-and-coming actor Samuel Dyer, is a young man with Down syndrome. Billy wakes up from a two-year coma and discovers that the United States has been turned into a brutal dictatorship thanks to President Kruger, to be played by award-winning veteran actor Bill Weeden ( Sgt. Kabukiman   N.Y.P.D. ). Kruger has put all people with disabilities into institutions. Billy becomes the leader of a diverse group of resistance fighters committed to ending Kruger's reign of terror. "Special Needs Revolt!" is also a satire on our current political situation, done in the style of Troma Entertainment. Lloyd Kaufman of Troma will appear in the film.  CHECK OUT THE INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN:  https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/special-needs-revolt#/ Adrian’s latest work  Special Needs Revolt!  may seem edgy and even shocking to some. However, it demonstrates that he is grow

Music Secrets: The Music School Survival Guide

Music Secrets: The Music School Survival Guide Don't have any time to balance rehearsals, exams, and a social life? Then read on!  So you find that between playing in orchestra, the school musical, a solo recital or two, joining Sigma Alpha Iota or Phi Mu Alpha , playing in the alternative band at night, pep band, and marching band that you can't keep your eyes open, let alone study for the music history midterm next week or even begin to write your term paper on Debussy? Then read on and learn to balance life in Music School. 1) Musicians DO need to Sleep   Yes, you need to sleep, even if it is only five hours a night plus catnaps. Your brain cannot function if you do not sleep. So sleep, even if that means that you can't play in that awesome alternative band that jams every other night till 5am at the local bar. 2) Eat right and exercise Okay, so I sound like your parents, or Oprah, but I am serious. My biggest mistake as an undergrad (well, one of my bigges

Percussion Instruments 101: How to Play the Concert Triangle

PHOTO"wikimedia.org Percussion Instruments 101: How to Play the Concert Triangle There are literally hundreds of concert percussion instruments in use every day throughout the world. Whether you are playing percussion in a drum circle in Ghana , a jazz band in New Orleans , or a symphony orchestra in Sweden, you are playing an instrument that has traveled and mutated throughout the globe. The percussion instrument the triangle , is a metal rod bent into the shape of a two dimensional geometric triangle with one of the bottom corners disconnected to allow sound waves to escape. The concert triangle often has a slight difference, in that it may have a hole in one corner to loop a piece of nylon to hang the concert triangle. If it is an Alan Abel triangle, it will have a slight difference in the open end. That angle will end in a different thickness, supposedly to help the triangle sound to escape better acoustically. The triangle may be struck near one of the closed an