Architecture (Demolition) by Ian Marquis
In 2005, I was sick and tired of writing songs "in the box" and programming everything straight into my DAW. I'd been picking at the electric guitar for a few years, but I wasn't recording it - I didn't really know how. I'd tried workarounds (including playing something on guitar, then sitting down to program it note-by-note as a piano or synth line), but it just wasn't cutting it.
That summer, I flew down to Washington, DC to spend a couple of weeks with a close cousin of mine. A day or so in, we started noodling around on an acoustic guitar, and less than an hour later we were recording (intentionally) horrible music for laughs. Then, when I flew back home, I just sort of ... started recording my guitar playing. I did some things backwards (like the time I laid down a guitar track without a click and tried to match the drums to it), but eventually I started to find my groove.
This album collects songs from three demo releases I did in 2005-2006. The first (Behind Closed Doors) was a dense, sludgy, low-fi affair using only guitar tuned to Drop-C with flatwound strings. The second (Waiting for Something Else) was where I began to rediscover my love of sparkle and texture. The third (Shiver) is when I really started to experiment with my arrangements.
Architecture: Demolition represents me finding myself as a guitarist, and discovering the ways I could integrate my playing into actual arrangements. It's by turns experimental, noisy, meandering, occasionally too drawn-out, and often unbalanced - but I think it's pretty magical all the same. I hope you enjoy this second slice of my journey.
Tracklist
| 1. | Aphasia | 1:46 |
| 2. | Ten Dollar Bottle | 3:51 |
| 3. | Lay Low | 3:53 |
| 4. | Awaiting Snowmelt | 5:08 |
| 5. | Filthy Little Secret | 4:36 |
| 6. | Empty and Living | 6:26 |
| 7. | Push Me Under | 4:34 |
| 8. | Left Down Inside | 6:54 |
| 9. | Untied | 5:17 |
| 10. | Faith in Glass | 3:51 |
| 11. | Give Me A Chance | 4:11 |
| 12. | The Proof Is | 4:28 |
| 13. | Coming to Me | 4:40 |
| 14. | House of Cards | 5:47 |
| 15. | Alter Ego | 3:26 |
Credits
Written, recorded, and produced by Ian Marquis.
License
All rights reserved.
My songs are tiny ecosystems: self-sustaining, self-contained, intricate, and densely layered. I'm captivated by found sound and immaculate production. I sample my own work. I chop up my guitars and create arrangements I could never have played. I treat my voice like an instrument, pushing and pulling it in otherworldly directions. I polish each track until, sonically, it feels like it sparkles.