Marsan is a solo project of 21-year-old Chicago musician, Jeremy Marsan, who is currently in the band Acker, and was previously a member of Shy Guy Says. In 2012, Marsan kicked-off a side solo project as a way mainly to channel his “interest in replicating the textures and grooves” with the use of “live instruments” like his favorite electronic artists like Boards of Canada and Four Tet.
“As I proceeded, I was inspired to add pop melodies and folk lines over the dense, harmonic-rich textures. Continuing further, I noticed a theme and loose story line: a character gets lost in a goliath-sized shopping mall, intercepting media signals that misguide and confuse, yet experiencing some awe-inspiring moments along the way,” adding, “you don’t need to follow a story line to enjoy it.”
“Strain Theory” – Marsan from Music For Agoramaniacs
Let’s just say that Marsan – who wrote all of the songs; played all of the instruments; recorded and mixed all the tracks – definitely delivers in more ways than one on his first solo release, Music For Agoramaniacs. As the two singles, “Strain Theory” and “Snow Day” demonstrate, the album is chock full of innovative, experimental and entertaining tracks that combine elements and strokes of electronic, pop, folk, shoegaze, downtempo and jazz, just the sound Marsan indicated he was aiming for on his debut solo album.
These are amazing songs; Marsan has definitely hit on something original even though he openly admits he is emulating other artists. There isn’t a musician in the world who doesn’t emulate another artist and who isn’t influenced by others’ work. The test of talent is what an artist can do with what they’ve learned from others before them, and what they can bring to it to make it pretty much all of their own, and therefore create their identity and sound. That said, there is no question of the enormous influence Boards of Canada appears to have on Marsan’s music.
“Snow Day” – Marsan from Music For Agoramaniacs
Listen to more Marsan on Bandcamp