Marco Mahler
Design In Quick Rotation
© 2007 Marco Mahler (837101328579)
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"A great album" from "a raising star from Brooklyn" - Whitney Matheson - USA Today's Pop Candy Blog
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As the landscape of music is carved throughout time, the work born solely to contribute to that progression is something to be appreciated. With lyrical aspirations of Dylan and a healthy admiration for the innovative guitar work of Bert Jansch, the contribution from acoustic singer/songwriter Marco Mahler is immense. Born of Swiss heritage and living as a dual citizen in the United States and Switzerland, his international travels have given him a wide appreciation for music, ranging from traditional Irish folk to mainstream Hip Hop. This range shows through in the debut album, Design in Quick Rotation, which has been described as “music that captures the dawn of Sunday morning and embodies it through verse and song.” Under each gentle melody, Mahler's whispery vocals seem to be offering access to a profound secret, creating a rare intimacy between artist and listener.
Design in Quick Rotation breathes perspective, as Mahler crafted much of the album while working to revitalize a log cabin nestled in the Appalachian foothills. During this period in the scenic mountains, Mahler, for the first time, took on the roles of father and husband, and the album is charmed with that same sense of newness. The final inspiration for the record’s completion, however, came when Mahler parted with the mountains of Virginia for the livelier pastures of Brooklyn. This contrast in location can be felt as a subtle undertone throughout the album. His creative release was fueled by nature, but the time in New York, a microcosm of art and culture, gave Mahler a strong desire to see his passion for music come to fruition.
The move north was more a coming home for Mahler, as several years of his past were spent submerged in the artistic atmosphere of a pre-gentrified Williamsburg. This period proved to be crucial in the development of his sound. His tendency of being an intense listener allowed him to fully absorb the music swirling around the area. Playing the New York City subways – mainly for the challenge of committing an indifferent crowd of commuters – gave Mahler confidence in his original material and enhanced his improvisational skills as a guitarist. It wasn’t just music, however, that was influential in his development; reading the work of his wife, an accomplished poet, further broadened his horizons through her unique approach to written word.
In the end, the music has the feel of a dreamy lullaby. Yet, there was no carelessness in its creation, with every word holding strong value to each refined lyrical verse. There is an indefinable quality to it, landing somewhere in the realm of Sufjan Stevens, Belle and Sebastian, or Nick Drake, yet shying from the melancholic for a more upbeat rhythmic vibe. Design in Quick Rotation, the debut album from Marco Mahler, takes the singer/songwriter genre to a new place; an organically grown record that serves as the introduction to a brilliant musician.
reviews
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Soundtrack to a stranger's smile
author: The Teal - IndieRockReviews.comEveryone has that one album that they will never get sick of, that always hits home, and that they can always relate to in any mood or current situation. Marco Mahler's Design In Quick Rotation can be said to be that album. From the first 30 seconds his meek voice and guitar soak into your skin and permeate happy peaceful memories throughout your being. It's gentle, it's beautiful, and it's sincere. I would imagine this being the soundtrack to a stranger's smile, or the adventure of looking into someone's eyes and having a full conversation without words. This album is a unique illustration of how beautiful and simple music can be.
- author: Ben Marwood - Drowned in Sound
A highly competent mixture of beauty
If you’re looking for something new, then you just found it.
author: Andy Malt - Subba-CultchaBrooklyn-based singer-songwriter Marco Mahler has spent several years working on his unique sound by travelling and listening to as much music as possible. Looking, listening and filtering everything through his fingers, he eventually took the contents of his head and turned it into eleven diverse, smart and lovely songs. Mahler’s deep knowledge of a huge range of musical styles and his innate ability to fit pieces of them together so that, even in the most unlikely combinations they sound brilliant, makes Design In Quick Rotation an endlessly enjoyable listen. Folk and anti-folk dance together to smooth hip hop, while a rock band quietly practices next door. So many references pop up along the way that it’s hard to pick them all out. Overall, the album has a similar feeling to The Shins, while Mahler’s distracted vocal delivery in reminiscent of both Jeffrey Lewis and Lou Reed. Bert Jansch also plays a big part and DJ Shadow appears in spirit. The result is a bunch of chilled out songs that have clear influences but stand out on their own as something different. I would call them exciting, but that seems like the wrong word for songs that make me want to lie down on the floor with my eyes closed. They have a strange calming effect, massaging blissful pleasure straight into your ears.
- author: Alan Williamson - Sixeyes Blog
Marco Mahler’s vocals may lean more towards a conspiratorial whisper than a shouted ‘hey-look-at-me’, but it’s his music that rises above that charismatic whisper to snag your ear. Acoustic guitar lines cut through all else, crisscrossing, blooming, like kaleidoscopic patterns in tracks like the instrumental “Hike The Lake”. And yet it’s that very voice, that calming, quiet voice delivering Mahler’s abstract lyrics, that’s the perfect foil to the penetrating acoustic guitar. Although all this isn’t in sacrifice to melody, he does wield a number of strong melodies that will lodge like an arrow in your heart. “Orange Chinese Car” softly thumps like a basketball about to be taken hard to the hoop, while “Study Airports” is an anti-lullaby, a song to wake up to rather than deliver the lulling. Design in Quick Rotation is a surprisingly well-crafted debut from a man who, not surprisingly, is also a sculptor.
Marco Mahler is aye okaye!
author: choir croak out them goodiesMarco Mahler is a pleasant surprise who should be immediately plucked from the seemingly endless horde of stubbled and bearded folkies who keep threatening to hush the world. Last June, Mahler self-released the record Design in Quick Rotation, an effort so beautiful and simple that not much since David Thomas Broughton's 2005 record can comparably stand up to it. There sounds to be little here but a voice, a guitar and a beat barely louder than a footstep, save for the plugged-in guitar on “Think Tank” or additional light percussion on “Study Airports,” which do nothing to speed things up further. The simplicity is divine, as anything additional would damage the soothing nature of the record
- author: MusicForAmerica.org
It's honest and touching, the simplicity of the music comes from hearing it as genuine as it can be, without sprinkling the myths of stardom all over the place. Mahler would probably sound good as good in Carnegie Hall as he would on the side of the corner store, there is no thin line between anything that he does (or chooses to do). It's dusty, it has a few scars, but it's there, take it or leave it. Mahler will become one of the most promising musicians of the early 21st century.
- author: Whisperin & Hollerin
This is a marvellous debut album and one of those subtle records that gets under the skin in the best possible sense. The songs are intense and literate without being self conscious or morbid ... Marco Mahler belongs to a bunch of those 'not quite folk but we don't know quite what to call them' solo artists like M.Ward , Iron & Wine, Diane Cluck and Viking Moses who are often linked under New Weird America umbrella as a kind of default option. None of these singer-songwriters are self consciously 'weird' or freaky but their poetic sensibilities make them hard to slot conveniently elsewhere. This is not necessarily a bad thing, lovers of Sufjan Stevens or Devendra Banhart's extended family’ will after all find much to admire in Marco Mahler's idiosyncratic music. However you choose to name it, one thing is sure - this a calming record to live with and love.
- author: Jim - Quick Before it Melts
As if by divine intervention, Marco Mahler's self released debut album, Design In Quick Rotation, arrived on my doorstep yesterday, just as I was in need of a subtle and quiet, contemplative record to become absorbed in for the night. Mahler holds dual citizenship in the US and Switzerland, and it seems he's picked up some of the finer points in musical tradition along the way. It makes for quite an impressive range of style and influence, but the album's real charm is its acoustic intimacy. As the fire in the hearth burned, and the shadows of snow falling outside chased each other across my eyes, Mahler's beautiful melodies were music to my tired and weary ears. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, this simplicity and gentleness, but in our fast-paced world, it sometimes goes unnoticed. Thanks, Marco, for reminding me to take a break and enjoy something beautiful.
- author: Cecilia - RockSellout.com
Marco Mahler could very well be a wet dream for the people that pick the music on “Grey’s Anatomy”. It’s probably just a matter of time before one of his low-key ballads turns up on an episode where Izzy, George or whoever is having an angsty moment. Now, don’t let this reference to said TV-show put you off, because Marco Mahler is someone who’s music I highly recommend. In fact, I order you to give this guy a listen if you proclaim to be a fan of similar artists like Sufjan Stevens and José Gonsález. So give your eardrums a little break from the hard beats and sharp guitars, and enjoy Mahler’s mellow indie-pop instead.
- author: The Plugg
Marco Mahler produces well written dreamy melodies that are hard to resist. Nowadays many singers are compared to Sufjan Stevens and Nick Drake, but Mahler actually delivers on that promise.
- author: Helvetica Bold
Private intimate songs that come with invisible headphones, made distinct by Mahler's expert finger work ... there is intimacy and gentleness here, but also a sturdy undertow that rescues the music from the negative space of haunting: these songs endure, they embrace the natural world
- author: Bring Me Up music blog
With lofting, arching melodies over pop and folk structures you'll find his music refreshing and dreamy.
- author: Massimo Ferro - Radio Voce Spazio - Italy
You have devolopped an highly individual musical language as well as an innovative guitar style making your songs and music among the most appealing and interesting things I heard from a contempoarry songwriters recently.
- author: Leila
This album is one of the most beautiful and life insightful with all its beauty and fear, expressed in the amazing lyrics and subtlety of sound; it defies classification, except maybe close to heaven...Thank you
Love your album
author: Mark ThielI love your album. You have handcrafted the most beautifully meditative songs I've ever heard. Each one sounds and feels as though it's been awake for hours, entering the giddy hours of the morning, with heavy eyes and a bright spirit.
- author: Dan Herman - Radio Crystal Blue
Rather intelligent songwriting throughout this disc.
Fine work
author: Jon Worley - Aiding & AbettingIndeed, the stark nature of this recording is its most arresting feature ... Mahler's approach doesn't waver from the first note to the last. He travels through his songs, using each to change course ever so subtly. Not nearly so idiosyncratic as a Simon Joyner or Songs:Ohia or Will Oldham or whatnot, Mahler has nonetheless managed to notch his own first-rate entry into the minimalist singer-songwriter ledger. Fine work.
- author: Alan Williamson - SIXEYES Blog
He writes and plays very lovely lullabye-esque songs which at times flirt with the best aspects of indie pop. And don't miss the lyrics, they don't jump out as they are sung in his quiet sleepy-edged voice... but what they mean, only Marco knows.
Beautiful Reverie
author: Fran CorpierVery original lyrics, melody, and voice are easy on the ears. Hike the Lake, Fields, and Go Crocodile are my favorites. I can escape into reverie, even while programming. Design in Quick Rotation is a remarkably elegant CD.
- author: Jay King - KABF 88.3 FM - Little Rock, AR
I very much like Design In Quick Rotation
Original sound
author: HannahSteady like a train, soft like a drum.
- author: beth
haunting and wonderful
I'm amazed by his music
author: DanielWow, I just couldn’t stop listening to this great music. Excellent vibrant songs, with calming voice. "Fields" - deeply moving song.
amazing tunes
author: valeriei love this album! it's perfect to listen to while driving around (with the windows down), during brunch on a lazy sunday afternoon, at 5:30 in the am on my my to work... it captures so many moods. it's amazing that every single intrument was played by marco, as well, with such a full and melodious sound... i highly recommend it to anyone that apreciates good music, and great sound! :)
a majestic disc
author: jefito blog - Stewrat - SRA majestic disc of desolate instrumentals and personal folk songs with crisp instrumentation overlaying sparse melodic backdrops ... “Hike the Lake” is an instrumental that builds from a single guitar, slowly filling in with keyboards and percussion. “Fields” is an elegant song with Mahler’s understated vocals that form the backdrop for precisely layered guitar lines. Give it a listen (or two).
- author: Josh
Mighty fine album. There's a really nice tension there that compliments the melodies. I always like it when the instrumentation is kept sparse while still being recorded well and tastefully.
impressive
author: davidi have really been digging this a lot - really cool vibe and a great collection of songs - impressive album
easy all day listening sound. love it!
author: Bobbi MooreI play this cd all day, it is pleasant listening to while working. It's a new fresh original sound. love it!
- author: c.
i LOVE the cd! i mean i really really do! it was all i could do not to listen to songs 2 and 3 over and over and over and over and over but i managed to keep from pilfering and listen to the entire cd. i really like it a lot.
I love this CD
author: MikeI love this CD – I mean, can I tell you how much I love it?! It’s ENTIRELY the soundtrack to my life. If I was sophisticated, self-aware and not as hyper as I am, it’s who I want to be and am at times. It reminds me of who I am and want to be at times. Dig?
heck, this is pretty good
author: brandieverytime i hear one of the songs when listening to my ipod on shuffle i always look at my ipod to see what band i'm listening to cuz i always think to myself... "heck, this is pretty good, how did i find this song?" and then i see that its marco.
clever and tasteful
author: RyanI could hear the folk roots in the music but it also has a modern edge to it. The harmonic bed that the songs have I found to be extremely clever and tasteful.
great for driving
author: juicevery peaceful. good to listen to when relaxing and going for a drive. prefect for people that like acoustics songs
interactive
author: laureni love it! really do! everyone that i have shared it with thinks it's super great too! it's kinda mosey-ish not directly in a cowboy kinda way, but in a wander or an ambling kinda way. it has a really nice flow without being boring or un-interactive!
I love it!
author: DeanI'm listening to Orange Chinese Car right now. I love it. I love good acoustic songs with simple, catchy tunes. Nice work. Voice reminds me of the lead singer's of Sparklehorse a little bit.