Marcellus Lewis bequeaths one of the most lofty releases of the year, confirming him as a master of world ambient pop.
Armed with synthesizers, keyboards and effects
From somewhere in Prague in the Czech Republic, the American Marcellus Lewis weaves eight pieces of ambient pop into a new album Only Elsewhere with Yellow Fantastic Recordings. We met him back in 2005 when he was part of Colortone Library, a decidedly ethereal project that impressed us in the Myspace years and that we included in several of our compilations with Superspace Records and Freak Out! Magazine. Later, Lewis formed Microholiday, almost in the same coordinates, and years later he would join the electro krautrockers Nitewife. He founded Yellow Fantastic just around those years and this document, now under his own name, was released in May 2023.
Armed with synthesizers, keyboards and effects, Mr. Lewis conjures paradisiacal landscapes in keeping with records like Plateaux of Mirrors or The Pearl. Each drop of sound is strategically chosen to generate ethereal and celestial sensations; shades of Harold Budd, Michael Brook and even Vangelis fly between its coordinates. Despite the terrible moments we are living through—what a novelty!—with wars and climatic catastrophes: I am writing this in the middle of “winter” at the beginning of August at 24 degrees Celsius—somehow the musician can go out and offer the world these paintings that carry only bliss for the egos and minds that cross their path.
With titles like “Only Elsewhere,” “I Dare You to Set the Mood,” and “Seaweed Syrup,” Marcellus says his worldview gives away. Places outside the urban noise, full of marketing and ad hoc dirt. It could not be otherwise, since it is precisely this music and art that does not enjoy the preference of dumbed down platforms. Each one chooses how to be or what to fill the cerebellum with, for my part I furiously recommend this new release from the former Colortone Library and Microholiday, which only confirms his position as a teacher and one of the best-kept secrets of the planetary avant-pop scene. .
Reprinted with permission Vanguardia Peruana.
Only Elsewhere is available on Yellow Fantastic. [Bandcamp]
