Album Notes

After two successful albums ('Blindspot' and 'Sky Land Water') with the band Blindspot, 'Residue' is Marcel's first solo album. He sings and plays guitar, piano and bass on most tracks but owes a large part of the album's sound to the amazing musicians he collaborated with. Guitarist Randolf Arriola added his energetic presence and superb soundscapes, while drummer Shahferi Ahpek delivered dynamic pulse to many of the songs. Erhu player Sunny Wong appears on two tracks – most notably on 'No Rhyme Or Reason' – and singers Winnie Teo and Brinal Chua provided backing vocals to several songs. Jazz pianist Katya Sourikova played Rhodes electric piano on 'Not Who I Am' and longtime Blindspot buddy Wil Kolen played guitar on two tracks.

'Residue' was mixed by Peter Hendricks at Inversion Studios and mastered by Laz Harris.

Notes from the artist:

So here it is. My first solo album. Songs of love and loss, despair and hope. All affected and inspired by the realisation that another part of life has begun, the part where you start losing some of the most important people in your life and you begin to see the sheer impermanence and fragility of life itself. However, loss never seems to come alone; it always brings along its friends: compassion, love and wisdom, which makes the loss bearable and valuable and, eventually, leads to acceptance.

My grandmother passed away on my 40th birthday. The song ‘There She Goes’ was written to celebrate the joy, wit and music she enriched my life with. Barely 7 weeks later, my dad passed away, which felt way too soon. ‘No Rhyme Or Reason’ was written during the period of mourning for him. After a friend, Pei Kie, left this world in 2008, her husband (and my close friend) Simon noted down the fragments of the many dreams he had about her plus a number of things she used to say, and I managed to work all that into the song ‘Sing Me To Sleep’.

The album title ‘Residue’ refers to how those who have passed still live on, inside of us.

I dedicate this album to Oma, Pa, Pei Kie, Eiso and to all who continue to feel their presence.

Marcel
April 2010