The Making Of Spirit

Musical innovation is often comes from accidental misnotes, mistimings, unusual chord combinations that in the hands of the open-minded results in something altogether fresh and exciting.

Serendipitous moments have led to Modern Jazz, Erik Satie, Radiohead, Autechre and so much more. It is that knife edge that Marmalade Soup now inhabits. Whilst ‘Dawn’ was the first pieces to be composed on ‘Spirit’ - created around 1979 - it displays a Gnossienne-like form; ‘The Other Side’ was the first track to be recorded. It was built up from two converging and diverging bass lines - one synth, one double bass, both plucked in sonic design. They began as two alternative bass lines for a track, but were fortuitously combined and left largely unaltered forming moments of jazz-like dissonance and moments of harmony.

The track that represents a giant leap of creativity for Marmalade Soup was the opening track ’Joy’. It began life as an indie-inspired guitar/bass piece accompanied by a complex synth sequence. When tweaking the synth line, muting all other tracks, ‘Look Up’ morphed into something completely different. Tracks were pared back or removed, and it’s essence came to the fore and a new creative practice born. Complex music would be built up, ripped apart, reduced to its barest minimum and rebuilt into a form often unlike how it began - an altogether sculptural process. ‘Boldness’ began as a multi-layered exploration of 70s funk, then ripped apart, cut apart, leaving richly dispersed distorted clavier and synth lines building to a crescendo. Part of the compositional process is what’s left out, as well as what’s left in.

Mathematics bears great influence over the music. ‘Reflection’ began as a piano chord sequence repeated as a variation, then reversed as a reflection of the first two phrases. The piece takes on a form like Satie’s Rosicrucian period. ‘Joy’ developed from an experiment in the circle of fifths into a track with alternative 80s pop undertones. 

Another influence over the whole album is the richness joy in the Holy Spirit - it is never overt, apart from in the track titles. ‘Spirit’ is intended as a spiritual journey through life, along with missteps along the way that are Spirit-breathed bringing moments of joy, sadness, frustration, hope and resolution.