GGT-004
Hologram Blue album by Strange Mountain II (Marcel Thee) from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Available on Cassette Tapes. Limited to 50 copies.
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Every Indonesian musician should be embarrassed with Marcel Thee. In the midst of his professional career and while being a father of two, he has managed to produce so much music.
The words “produce” and “much” here don’t exclusively refer to the writing and recording of new songs, but also a breath of fresh air in his overall body of work; a constant drive to evolve. It’s not surprising that one musical project couldn’t satisfy this drive. Aside from Sajama Cut, Marcel also creates music in The Knife Club, Roman Catholic Skulls, The House of Faith and Mirrors, as a solo artist, and, this latest one, Strange Mountain II.
Strange Mountain II heralds a new chapter of what is perhaps Marcel’s most ambitious project not named Sajama Cut, Strange Mountain. Despite following the same creative thread as before, there’s a new direction informing Strange Mountain II.
You can experience this new direction throughout Hologram Blue. The music is built around repetition and there’s a unique characteristic to each song. Their durations vary, but the relationship between them are unmistakable.
A sense of melancholy and the hypnotic are immediately felt on this album. Hologram Blue somewhat reminds me of William Basinski’s works, but some parts are reminiscent of certain non-ambient music, like that of Earth and the original score for Twin Peaks.
Darkness, light, hope, and finality are summarized on Hologram Blue. The cassette is an apt medium for this album, as its inherent qualities will bring out foggy memories that might not even belong to you.
-Alvin Bahar, Hai Magazine
Marcell Thee has always been a mainstay in the scene. I’ve known his work when he’s writing for Jakarta Beat and months later came in contact with the first Sajama Cut’s song back in 2014. Much has been said about Marcell, he’s one of the biggest names and has been around for ages, a ton of people look up to him and his generation of excellent innovators in the scene.
Unlike his peers though, he’s constantly shifting, it seems like he’s not gonna stop. He’s making album upon albums, guess he has become a musician’s musician, and has embalmed himself so firmly in that position he has the creative license to form a supergroup our of the blue with the biggest names around and releases his 39th album this time. His work may not be romanticized like his peers but it sure is longlasting in every faucet, not just in the sound or instrumentation or songwriting. Years from now, people will still talk about how mental this guy is and comb through his bandcamp even when Marcell has decided to call it a day.
Now, whether you’re reading this fresh off the seal in early 2019 or you’re the ones who discovered it late as I mentioned before, and you’ve combed through Marcell’s archieves, you’re gonna get the same thing, you’re gonna ask similar questions about the music and will likely never get any answer, and that’s Marcell Thee for you.
-Argia Adhidhanendra, Noise Whore