MARINE EYES Vinyl & CDs

Review: The limited 7" edition of Marine Eyes' latest full-length ambient record 'To Belong' hears a distilling of the original fourteen-track record down to just four selections. Though every track on the digital version of the album works in its own right, the choice on offer here - 'Hushed', 'Of The West', 'Bluest' and 'Call & Answer' - are particularly deserving of the study on wax. Something static, nigh time-crystalline is achieved on the B2, with its held root note evincing something of the quality of an infinite dream; the A1 recalls some mix of DJ Healer, Malibu or David Motion with its three note tenor-pad lilt; the A2 gets at the best of both worlds, sounding like a paradisiacal bathhouse vision set in slow motion; the B1 is the tensest, opting for a moodier key, but its reversed guitar taps and sustained choir-synth working in a no less lachrymose aesthetic.

Review: What does it mean To Belong? Cynthia Bernard aka. Marine Eyes only begins to scratch the surface of this question on her latest ambient record (yet leaps a great deal forward in wrestling with it nonetheless), following up her prior effort 'Chamomile' with a distinctly beauteous fortnight of forenoon drones, all of which spur the realization that "belonging is everywhere and nowhere". Belonging is indeed a kind of ephemeral longing of being than can only ever be partly grasped, attained. Through its looping washes of warmed, brackish, padded backwash - not to mention its many bass-undergirded angel choirs - the likes of 'Timeshifting', 'Bridges' and 'Mended Own' stand out as such revelatory highlights, all contributing to an incredible album of sonic diaristic reflection, in which every sound sticks out clearly yet plays its proper part in a humble, rose-smelling gestalt.

Review: This reissued version of Idyll from Marine Eyes is a newly expanded edition with plenty of new remixes of the original material included on the CD. Each of those asked to offer up remixes have been part of the original artists' "musical path, helping me believe in myself, encouraging me to share my art with the world, and inspiring me with their own art." Alongside those, there is also an alternative version of 'Roses All Alone' which is a window into how the original sessions sounded before the veil was stopped back. There is also a new B-side cut 'Make Amends' which wasn't on the original album which came out some two years ago now.

Review: The sophomore solo release of Los Angeles-based artist and producer marine eyes (Cynthia Bernard), moving to the esteemed Past Inside The Present after her soothing debut record, idyll, on Stereoscenic Records in March 2021. Also one half of the ambient duo, awakened souls, she most recently curated the mental health benefit compilation for Past Inside The Present, Healing Together. Filled with the sounds of nature and visions of the clouds and heavens above, chamomile is a totally absorbing listen, wrapping you up in its harmonious chordplay and transporting you to a calmer, sunnier, altogether nicer place.