Mandala (Rhys Marsh's original band) — debut album released in May!

[Rhys Marsh]

hi all, my first ever band — Mandala — which was active in London from 1997-2006, reformed last year and got back in the studio to finally record our debut album.

released on the 4th of May, 'Midnight Twilight' features songs written during our first nine years. the main tracks were recorded live in my studio in Norway, without headphones or a click track — allowing the songs to ebb and flow, and not restricting the energy in any way. after that, we took the songs to London, to add our original string section to a few of the songs.

Burning Shed began taking pre-orders yesterday. they're offering two options: the CD (in a lovely card sleeve, with a sixteen-page booklet), or the CD / concert ticket bundle (which saves you some money and gets you into our London concert at 93 Feet East on the 18th Of June).

CD: https://www.burningshed.com/store/au...duct/467/6538/

CD / Ticket bundle: https://www.burningshed.com/store/au...duct/467/6540/

the first single, 'Fire Is Mine', will be released this coming Monday, and will be premiered on Radio Caroline on Saturday evening, and Xymphonia on AAFM in The Netherlands on Sunday evening. i'll post links here.

in the meantime, here's a little teaser:



thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy it!

Rhys

[interbellum]

Hi Rhys,

In an interview you spoke about the chance to add a DVD with the Mandala CD, which would include a concert which you did in your studio with a selected audience. Any news about that?

The single sounds wonderful, b.t.w. (got the legal one, so don't worry)

[Rhys Marsh]

hi interbellum, thank you — i'm glad you're enjoying the single.

you're right, we had planned to put together a DVD with at least a few of the songs from that concert, along with some archive and interview footage. we ended up not having the resources to, though, so we decided to just focus on the CD itself. it might actually be more relevant for us to do this after we've released a few albums, so we'll keep on collecting the material and see where we are in a couple of years.

however, one of the songs from that concert will actually see the light of day quite soon, and Prog Magazine will be announcing a premiere in the coming weeks!

[Rhys Marsh]

the UK radio premiere of 'Fire Is Mine' was last night on Radio Caroline, but the Dutch radio premiere is in ten minutes, on AAFM's Xymphonia!

it's available worldwide at: http://xymphonia.aafm.nl/latest.html

enjoy!

[Rhys Marsh]

Mandala's first single, 'Fire Is Mine', is released today. i hope you enjoy it!

[Rhys Marsh]

Prog Magazine have just premiered a live video of 'Sun' from the 'Midnight Twilight' sessions. the song, written in 1997, was recorded in front of an invited audience last year in my studio. i also had a little chat with Prog and shared some stories. enjoy!

http://prog.teamrock.com/news/2015-0...sun-live-promo

[100423]

Cool! Thanks, Rhys!

[Rhys Marsh]

here's the video that was premiered by Prog Magazine this week.



if you'd like to share it (which would be greatly appreciated), here's the direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q-y7kBoFQs

i hope you enjoy it!

[interbellum]

i hope you enjoy it!

I did! Funny to see this kind of shoe-gaze-like stuff (in the second half) after the lecture on the genre Steven Wilson gave last night during his last gig in Europe

[Rhys Marsh]

oh, could you give a brief run-down of what Steven said? i wouldn't have called this shoe-gaze, so that'll be interesting to hear!

[interbellum]

oh, could you give a brief run-down of what Steven said? i wouldn't have called this shoe-gaze, so that'll be interesting to hear!

Well, it started with his love for 80s music (a lot of the bands that are on the Dream Kitchen-tape found in the deluxe edition of H.C.E.) and then he starts talking about his love for what came next: the shoe-gazer-movement, which has influenced some of his music too: lots of guitar-effects and -noises played by "shy" musicians. Of course "Sun" isn't shoe-gaze, but some of those wild guitar-playing at the end made me think of it slightly.

[Crystal Plumage]

Still have to check this album out (like so many)
I'm stunned there's no more interest here??

[interbellum]

Received the album a few days ago. As you know it's basicly a trio (bass, guitar, drum), that produces a modern view on early seventies psych, rock, folk and prog. On top of that there they added short moments with Mellotron-strings, real strings, sitar etc., which gives the music a rich character. The music has a dark, mysterious side, but Rhys' voice is always emotional. In short: this is not heavy progressive Kaukasus, but dark, psychprogfolkrock. Of course it has clearly a Marsh-marque

[Bazcrim]

I have had the album for a few weeks now and it is quite stunning. Almost as good as last years solo album. It is more along the lines of a traditional rock record, with added psychedelic twists! Rhys even plays a mean wah-wah guitar. The songwriting and arrangements are exceptional and the recording is so beautifully organic too. I love it!!

[Rhys Marsh]

thank you so much for the kind words. i think "dark, psychprogfolkrock" is a perfect description.

what's your favourite song so far?

we also made a little album sampler video, with a look at the packaging.

[interbellum]

thank you so much for the kind words. i think "dark, psychprogfolkrock" is a perfect description.

what's your favourite song so far?

we also made a little album sampler video, with a look at the packaging.

Nice video. I like it when musicians add a short history of the album and/or band in the liner notes and in this case it's almost essential to know the background of Mandala. I hope you still like "Gouda".

Best song? Mmm. I haven't figured that out yet, especially because most of the songs have a different atmosphere, arrangement and composition-progression. So like many good albums it depends on your state of mind of the moment you're listening to it. But "Ghizou" comes close I guess, with that lovely bass-pattern, joyous refrain, scary Mellotron-strings and heavy rocking guitars. And "I Have Fallen" is fine too with its Byrds-like guitars and pop-like vocals, while the break with the Mellotron changes it all. Lots to discover.

[Rhys Marsh]

that's very nice to hear! we're all fans of the details as well, and this time we really had enough of them to fill a booklet with. oh, and yes, we have very fond memories of our Gouda days, and are looking forward to having more.

i hope you continue to enjoy the album!

[Rhys Marsh]

hello! we've just released a new music video, which was premiered by Echoes And Dust: http://echoesanddust.com/2015/06/exc...andala-within/

it's a psychedelic lyric video, inspired by those really cool liquid light / coloured oil projections from the late-sixties.

i hope you enjoy it!

Rhys

[interbellum]

Of course those projections are all Mandala's

Beautiful done and it's nice to see the lyrics floating through the images.

Although mandala's are very different from fractals, this video made me think of the documentary "Arthur C Clarke's Colours Of Infinity" by Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon with music by David Gilmour:

[Rhys Marsh]

that fractal film was fantastic. thank you for posting it here!

we've just released the second single (and third video) from 'Midnight Twilight'. as with our liquid light video, this was filmed and edited by Charlene Soraia — a fantastic musician who released an album called 'Moonchild' a few years back. well worth taking a listen to. oh, and she's a big Mellotron fan! https://www.facebook.com/CharleneSoraia

i hope you enjoy the video!

[interbellum]

Cloudy days are back again

If you concentrate on the center of the screen it's a quite hypnotic experience, in which I see a lot of Buddha's and (again) fractals.

B.t.w. that film is on DVD and available with the book with the same title: http://www.amazon.com/The-Colours-In.../dp/1904555055