There are so many music genre terms flying around these days. When you listen to Catharsis, the new album by Vancouver artist Marc-E, quite a few of those new and relatively new genre terms come to mind, but also a number of those old ones, that these new ones were actually derived from.
So let’s start from the back, the new(er) ones: Psybient, downtempo, post-rock. You try to define Psybient, and at least three new terms crop up. “A genre of electronic music that combines elements of psychedelic trance and chillout,” says Last.fm. They should know.
Or, let’s try post-rock. “Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs,’ says Wikipedia, quite versed in these terms.
Yet, all of these and more, as well as the artists whose music can fall within these categories, draw inspiration from those ‘good old’ (and well worn out terms) as psychedelic, progressive/prog, and krautrock.
This all brings us back to Marc-E and his Catharsis. You see, you can actually apply all those genre terms, both old and new to the music presented here. Marc-E drifts seamlessly here from electronics to ‘live’ instruments as if he’s got the history of modern instrumental music in his fingertips; from oriental experimentation of psychedelic bands to krautrock-style guitar sounds of Michael Rother, one of the great names of that genre (“Shadow Work”).
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with combining styles and genres and drawing inspiration from other artists, as long as you bring along some sense of cohesion and a bit of personal inspiration, and Marc-E does quite a bit of that on Catharsis.
Quite an engaging and inspiring listen, actually.
