maarten scherrenburg has never been the most prolific songwriter around. both in his activities as a member of the use of ashes and experimental quartet mercy giants, friends of his work have by now become accustomed to occasionally extensive periods of silence in between albums. and yet, merely a few months after the use of ashes' recent conceptual comeback cycle white nights, his debut under the march moniker doesn't just mark plenty of fresh material, but an entirely new project: while the last mercy giants' full-length running in slomo was praised for its dark and hallucinatory blend of post- and indie-rock, march rather constitutes the more folk- and singer-songwriter-oriented flipside to white night material. the recognisably dreamy and mysterious guitar lines as well as some of the psychedelic aspects of the the latter's pieces have carried over into these compositions (most notably on hazy vision 'think about yourself girl'), with influences and references ranging from pink floyd's soundtracks to david gilmour's intimate solo pastorale on an island. and yet, scherrenburg seamlessly weaves these points of departure into eight highly personal and spacious songs with far more tangible lyrics. on 'structures and layers' as well as 'go to sleep', furthermore, elements from jazz and electronica organically seep into the pointedly sober acoustic arrangements, adding colour and a drifting quality to the material. he may not be the most prolific songwriter around, but maarten scherrenburg has again put the time in between albums to good use. march will be available as a limited edition of 300 copies on 180 grams black vinyl in mounted sleeve, with free cd copy of the album, and a regular edition on cd in japanese style mini album cardboard. the official release date for the album is march 7, 2011, and it is available from the tonefloat store. pre-orders will be shipped on march 1, and the album will be available on the tonefloat festival.
