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Recalling the restrained atmospherics and moody ambience of artists like Harold Budd, Brian Eno and Labradford - Marco Union sculpt atmospheric ambient soundscapes from the starkest of arrangements and subtlest of nuances. Their album DISTANCE is more an aural journey than your conventional song based record - each track acting as a continuation of the next, moving you slowly forward through a moody and dark musical landscape.
Meant to evoke the feeling of travelling through an unknown city at night from the safety of your car, this Manchester duo are dabbling in the realms of concept album - but its with a restraint and taste thats intoxicating rather than pretentious.
The opening track SLEEPLESS sets a tone that permeates the next forty minutes, gentle synth textures and skeletal beats that soothe as much as they unsettle - a hypnotic and dreamlike musical landscape which nods towards the dark and menacing at times, albeit dark and menacing from a safe distance. At times resembling Sigur Ros without the heartbreaking intensity and tear-jerking mood swings, Marconi Union are a more settled experience - their music acting more towards languidity.
THROUGH GLASS pitches itself towards a spaghetti western feel, the gentle beats building gradually to find a twangy guitar setting the mood, the entire thing managing to end up sounding like Mogwai collaborating with Ennio Morriconne. The no less atmospheric sounding BUILDINGS AND PEOPLE keeps a post-rock vibe going, stark guitar lines rubbing shoulders with a moody electronica soundtrack - Marconi Union putting some heart and soul into a genre know for its coldness and detachment. At times sounding like the soundtrack to Blade Runner polished up and reinterpreted for a new generation, SUBURB27 blends cold synth beauty to post-rock guitar ruminations - you can almost see Rutger Hauer standing against a neon lit backdrop and making that heartbreaking monologue.
DISTANCE is an album that plays out with sublime majesty and class, a moody and atmospheric record that sets out to take you on a journey, dropping you off at a place you may not be expecting but will be glad you've reached.

Marconi Union are two like minded musicians from Manchester. The reclusive pair are somewhat of an enigma, if you can find any information on them you will find they have been compared to Sigur Ros, Labradford, Neu, Harold Budd, Talk Talk and even Pink Floyd.
Their music has very rightly been described as a post rock cinematic orchestra. Unique, individual and timeless music, fusing acoustic sounds, strings and pianos with electronica, post rock guitars and even occasionally nodding towards jazz and dub.
DISTANCE is the brand new album from Marconi Union. The concept of the album revolves around City Living and Travel - seven tracks with certain reoccurring themes, which blend effortlessly into one another.
Lushly produced and pristinely mixed gives DISTANCE an instant appeal, a musical sound scape, which evolves into a deep, compelling musical experience. They create an intimate safe alternative to what can be a disordered and chaotic world, they make you take a step back from that bustling city lifestyle and instead send you into drifting atmospheres in what can only be described as a deeply ethereal experience. The music evokes the feeling of being silently driven around an unknown city at night, observing the activity and life of the urban sprawl from the sealed safety and isolation of a car.
The duo that form Marconi Union have been working together for years, their influences range from Joy Division to Wire, that's not necessarily saying they sound like them but they take inspiration from certain elements of the music they produce.

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