Martins Garden
by Mister Mime
August 31st 2020
Marcel Umberg aka Martin’s Garden has released an ode to the oceans titled ‘Below' on ‘Aquatic Collective’. Invoking emotions of awe, mystery and a sense of exploration in a masterful manner, ‘Below’ is a must-listen for ocean lovers to amplify their affinity to the vast blue bodies and for those unfamiliar with its depth to undertake a journey of adventure and discovery
MM: What is the theme and motive of ‘Below’? What made you write this album?
MG: It all starts with my first release on Aquatic Collective: ‘Beyond’. That was my first album where the focus was just on water. On ‘Beyond’ the theme was the four phases of water like solid, liquid, gas and the mysterious in-between.
I had always the intention to come back to Aquatic Collective with some fresh watery tunes because I simply love the aquatic aspect of this label. And also to dive in something complete different than my last album ‘Avalon’, which was all about knights and magic, where I’ve tried to combine kind of medieval music with modern electronica.
On ‘Below’ I had the idea to make a journey into the deep wide ocean. It’s an ode to the grandeur of nature. The whole album is based on a dive into the ocean. A journey into the deep. The track ‘Nautica’ for example symbolizes a deep-sea exploration with a submarine. The track ‘And You Will See’ describes the moment when you discover a sunken city like Atlantis for example. Or simply the fact, that our beloved ocean still remain a largely unexplored part of your planet. The ocean is not just home to us ocean lovers, but it is home to the greatest abundance of life on our planet. When you sail across the sea, you will see dolphins, whales or a turtle popping up to take a breath. That is just what we see on the surface but there is much more life below the ocean’s surface than on land. There are over 330,000 different species underwater, and it is still not clear how many of them we know.
MM: What does the album artwork signify? Who is the artist?
MG: The artist who created this artwork is Gene Raz von Edler. He’s a professional digital artist from Germany. I love his artworks very much. That’s the third artwork from Gene I’ve used as a cover for my album.
The artwork has different meanings for me. First of all, it symbolises simply the beauty and deepness of our beloved oceans. But also that the oceans contain great mysteries within their depths. While many of these spectacular mysteries have been explained by scientists, there are still quite a few unexplained oceanic enigmas. And very importantly: Blue is my favorite color! That simple.
MM: Who is ‘Aquatic Collective’?
MG: Aquatic Collective is a music collective based upon experimental and forward thinking sounds. The vision at Aquatic Collective is to help spread stimulating sound waves that will open up people’s minds to new ideas and feelings. The founder of Aquatic Collective is Jenner Clark from the United States. I’ve met him in the States in 2016 at the Symbiosis festival. Great guy!
MM: How did you approach the sound selection and sound design for an underwater theme album?
MG: Oh, I love pads … I’m a piano player and I love to play pads. So my main softsynth for ‘Below’ was Omnisphere from Spectrasonics. I used a lot of different synths and sample libraries and drenched them into wide reverbs and endless delays. I have a clear vision in my mind of how everything should sound. I work very intuitive but I’m also constantly trying to come out of my comfort zone.
For this album I had the intention to create a very thick and lush sound for the whole album. Not only to celebrate the beauty and mystery of the ocean, but also because of one simple fact: pressure. The deeper you go under the sea, the greater the pressure of the water is pushing down on you. I wanted to have that kind of feeling when you listen to the tracks. And of course, I wanted to create a vast world beyond our imagination.
MM: Can you tell us a bit about the track names: Swarm, Oculus, Atlantica; and if there is any story behind the names or the making of the tracks.
MG: The whole story goes like this: imagine yourself standing on the edge of the ocean. You’re looking out into the ocean and it is calling you. This is how the journey starts with ‘Into the Deep’. The deeper you go, the longer you dive into the endless beauty of the ocean, the more your mind is sinking into the ocean of awareness. That’s the journey of this album. On this journey you will realise that there is a collective intelligence called swarm intelligence and that swarms of fish and other marine life are swimming in a highly synchronized and polarized manner.
Oculus means eye. I had the eye of an octopus in mind. The octopus has some of the most advanced marine animal eyes. It’s two eyes have more than double the amount of optic nerves as human eyes. So an octopus can visually interpret an image’s size, shape, texture and color, and translate that information in order to make sophisticated camouflage with it’s skin.
But there is even more you will see and understand in the deep. There are a lot of tales and myths of lost civilisations. One of those is the story of Atlantis, a mythical city that is said to have sunk beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. There are many sunken cities around the globe and ‘Below’ is the soundtrack of this exploration and adventure.
MM: What are your musical and non-musical influences?
MG: I’m influenced by a lot of musical styles and artists but there are two which influences me the most: the baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach and the Swiss harp player Andreas Vollenweider. Movies also influence me a lot. I love movie soundtracks from composers like Hans Zimmer or Kenji Kawai.
Non musical influences … hmm, good question. I would say sushi, pizza and pasta.
MM: How would you describe yourself as a music producer?
MG: Chillout, downbeat and dub music are the styles which I love the most. I see myself as a producer in those genres. I’m ever influenced by classical music and orchestral movie scores. But I also like hip hop beats or cool grooves in general. Actually, I love any kind of music, especially those sounds which soothe the restless soul in me.
MM: How do you incorporate vocals/voices in your music?
MG: By trial and error. I’ve got lots of solo vocals and choir sample libraries because I love the human voice especially choirs. I used to sing in a choir and I teach singing even my singing voice is mediocre. Nothing touches people more than the human voice. Music has this great effect that it heals and that it’s good for your health in general. And this is all about what I’m trying to do. Music is the language of the soul and I love to communicate via music. Whatever experiences a person may be going through, whatever it is like sad times or unspeakable joy, it can be expressed through music and the use of human voices helps me to express myself.
MM: Are you already working on a new album?
MG: Yes, I’m back to producing. I’m working on the following album of ‘Beyond’ and ‘Below’. It will have the name: ‘Above’, which will be releases on Eucalyptus Network. It’s actually the same concept but this time it is all about what’s above. I’m really in the mood to rise above myself.
You Can Follow Martins Garden on:
https://aquaticcollective.bandcamp.com/album/below
https://soundcloud.com/martinsgarden
All Images courtesy of Martins Garden
