Marle Thomson - Shapes (EP)
With her warm and colorful voice and guitar sound, Marle Thomson brings soulful songs about longing, vulnerability and having the courage to open yourself up. Soulful Space Pop, as Thomson calls it herself. On new EP Shapes are the singles 'Expectations', 'Castles', 'All Is Not Lost', 'Surf Rising' and 'Hearts', and two beautiful demo versions that give us a glimpse into Marle Thomson's creative process.
Marle Thomson about Shapes: "I chose the name 'Shapes' because this is symbolic for the collection of various tracks, all of which show a different 'shape' (or side) of my own personal story. A growth process in embracing vulnerability, daring to be myself, looking for the right musical form, harmonies and lyrics to express this. The Home Demo Versions of 'Castles' and 'All Is Not Lost' provide a peek under the hood of my writing and production process. These demos are the original and first versions of the songs, which I recorded at home and produced in my home studio. Actually, I think the song making process is one of the most fun things to do. Once the outlines are there for a bit, I can endlessly search for the right sounds - for example for a drum part - and for fun additions of small parts.
For me a song often builds up layer by layer, it is a magical process. Usually it is ready before I start recording - as was the case with 'Castles' for example, which I wrote on ukulele and was complete (harmonies, melody, lyrics), although sometimes small things were changed that just didn't work out. On the other hand, 'All Is Not Lost' was created for the most part during recording. Sometimes I join things that I had devised seperately, but suddenly turn out to work very well. That happened, for example, with the outro of this song, which was actually a "mistake", but I thought it sounded super cool! A number of elements from the original demos you can hear in the final productions that I made with Marnix Dorrestein." Marle already made fame in The Netherlands with prominent performances and a well-received 8 track debut EP. She played live on Dutch national radio, prime time Dutch national television,
performed at various festivals and stages such as Amsterdam Fashion Week, internationally acclaimed festival Eurosonic-Noorderslag and also as opening act for British singer Heather Peace and Australian singer Mark Wilkinson. In 2018 Marle went on her first ever UK tour. ‘Thomson demonstrates that rare type of dedication to authenticity, focusing inwards to find the right balance of sound and spirit and delivering it outwards with passion and care.’ - Music Week (UK) Tracklist:1. Expectations2. Castles3. All Is Not Lost4. Surf Rising5. Hearts featuring Kofi Anonymous6. Castles - Home Demo Version7. All Is Not Lost - Home Demo Version For fans of: Jessie Ware, Lianne La Havas