Press material for Marcus Hamblett
For the last five years, multi-instrumentalist Marcus Hamblett has earned his bread and butter as a session musician mostly touring internationally with folk/pop acts.
However, in 2015 he released his debut solo album – Concrete. It is is an entirely different beast, combining free improvisation with collage and strict arrangement in a way that hints at Gastr Del Sol, Tortoise and Six Organs of Admittance. Vintage analog synths and awkward guitar melodies intermingle with ghostly female vocals, betraying the influence of Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai‘s 70’s horror theme music.
The Quietus said the album ““could be called post-rock if it didn’t also sound pre-rock, or maybe as if rock had never happened and folk, modern jazz and the classical avant-garde had merged into a stream of hip, innovative music to soundtrack the changes and discontents of the second half of the twentieth century instead, and Joe Meek had dug John Cage.”
The release was picked up by Tom Robinson at BBC 6Music and BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction show, who played many tracks from it and invited Hamblett to take part in a collaborative session at Maida Vale studios with modular synth pioneer James Holden and Mercury nominated jazz drummer Mark Holub. The resulting session was broadcast on Radio 3, including a musical homage to the great Ornette Coleman who had recently died.
Hamblett went on to perform many shows in 2015, either solo or with drummer and frequent collaborator Thomas Heather, including a trio show in London with the fantastic saxophonist Colin Webster and a performance at Latitude Festival which was also recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
2016 sees him hard at work on the follow up to Concrete, which includes some very special guests who will be announced shortly. He is also doing a run of European dates supporting LNZNDRF, a new band featuring Scott and Bryan Devendorf of The National and Ben Lanz of Beirut.
Hamblett is also a member of many other bands including Eyes & No Eyes and Sons of Noel and Adrian and has worked as a producer, arranger or instrumentalist with countless others including Fear of Men, Emma Gatrill, Laura Marling, Rachael Dadd, Landshapes, Rozi Plain, Bear’s Den, Kristin McClement, Alessi’s Ark, Peggy Sue, Willy Mason, Broken Social Scene, Moulettes and Dan Mangan.