Let’s step back for a second and see everything more rationally, or at least I will try to share a personal explanation of why I wrote this strong but simple statement.

Starting from the beginning, I am talking about the song ‘Daemon/Angel’ included in the album ‘Doppelgänger’, available on Spotify, Apple Music and all streaming services (check the video below if you haven’t seen it yet).
Before going further, I am asking you to listen to the song and let the music speak to you. Done? Good.

What did you feel? I believe you had a few moments where you wanted to move and this is because of that constant beat that punctuates the rhythm of the song, but at the same time, you had the feeling to stop and relax when the atmosphere was quiet and the rhythm was slowing down… And then back again with moving your head following this “hammer sound” of the handpan, like a heartbeat that can’t stop.
If you felt all of this, well… Awesome! You felt the Demon and the Angel that were constantly together, chasing each other, and they could barely touch each other just for a fraction of time.
They were so intense and eternal. They were so close… They are still chasing each other.

But who is the Demon? Who’s the Angel?
As I said in my previous post about our soul (Pneuma) and body (Soma), two very distinct elements that are indisputably bound together, the same happens here with the Daemon and the Angel, or better yet, the evil and good that are living inside us, inside every living being.

Good and Evil have been fighting (or dancing maybe, who knows) since the beginning of humanity.
They are part of humanity, and humanity can’t live without them.

I am not saying that being “bad” or acting like a total j**k is something that we should do all the time, absolutely not. Let’s face that the evil inside us is, from time to time, set free to help us.
Good behaviour can help us find the light, but sometimes, bad actions also help us survive. We all know that good decisions make you strong and wrong ones make you stronger.
Acting well for an evil hidden purpose is bad, but are “evil” actions done for a good cause bad too?
I was thinking about this while creating the song. Everything revolves around this simple concept and how you and I might feel about it.

In a nutshell, we are good and evil at the same time and sometimes we stand on one side, other moments on the other. By choosing one of the two sides, we survive.
We are our past, good or evil, actions, no matter what. Learning from them for a better future is what matters, especially in these hard times where our confused and weak society is living in.

Again, learn from your past, embrace what you have done, and learn from that. If there’s something really bad and evil, do your best to understand why and what made you do that. That’s the only way to understand, overcome, and heal.

If you think, there’s a symbol that represents all of that: Yin and Yang.

We all know this symbol, we saw it at least once.
Do you know the meaning? It’s simple but explains exactly the concept behind ‘Daemon/Angel’.

In this symbol, the black area represents yin (retractive, passive, and contractive), while the opposite white side represents yang (repelling, active, and expansive).
The dots are representative of one within the other.

The “yin and yang symbol” is a Taijitu which means “symbol” in Chinese and refers to Taiji, a Chinese cosmological term for the “Supreme Ultimate” state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which yin and yang originate.

Many see the yin and yang as symbols of good and evil, but it’s not (only) like that: it’s mostly about balance and cycles that originated the “ten thousand things,” including the unity of opposites and natural dualities such as light and dark, fire and water, expanding and contracting… and guess what? Among these forms are humans. You can explore more on this page about the yin and yang symbol.

We were born with balance, with the good and evil in equal amounts inside us.
Since we also have free will, we freely choose which path to follow, when to follow it, and how. I am not judging you; you know deep inside what’s bad and what is right, even though sometimes unconventional methods are needed.

Watch the video of ‘Daemon/Angel’

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post Demons and Angels… Aren’t we all? appeared first on NikMartken.

The song Pneuma/Soma has been around for a while now, and I would like to talk a bit more about its concept, how it came to my mind and what’s behind the song itself.
Let’s start with the meaning of the two words I chose: Pneuma and Soma.

In ancient Greek Pneuma (πνεῦμα) means “breath” and in a religious context it stands for “soul” or “spirit”. Soma (σῶμα) is the opposite, and it means “body”, as a distinct entity from the soul.

So basically, think about the most basic and final essence of a living being: it is essentially a soul “trapped” or “enclosed” in a body, in some flesh that allows the spirit to roam on this planet, make contact with others, create experiences, make love, express itself… Everything.

Think about it: with these two words, the world had a completely new significance, or better, it became more visible, almost tangible: we are two, two as one.

“We are spirit bound to this flesh” sings Maynard James Keenan of Tool, and these words (still) resonate with me. We are spirits, we always have been, but we are also physical entities that must interact with each other to reach “great knowledge”, by mistake, by love, by being together and sometimes even by embracing loneliness.
Yes, loneliness is necessary, as well as the need to communicate with others and express our emotions.
Being alone will allow you to discover who you are, letting the thoughts speak to you and give powerful insights, but we should be very careful not to allow all those thoughts to overcome us: this will lead to overthinking, misleading ideas, confusion… Once again:

“Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind”

This is what Maynard says in “Lateralus”, so real so powerful.

So let your spirit shine, and let your body walk you through the experience of life without hesitation. Believe, and trust the process.

Watch the video of ‘Pneuma/Soma’

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post Pneuma and Soma: the basic essences of all beings appeared first on NikMartken.

It has been a long time since my last post, but honestly… if I have nothing to say I don’t want to push myself to write or do anything I don’t believe in, and this is why sometimes I prefer to stay quiet until something awakens.

This is more or less my feelings while writing this post, looking at the work done so far believing in what I am doing, feeling it and craving to share it with you all.
And exactly it is what I am talking about with this track that, so far, resonates the most with me and FOR me.

Let’s jump back to the days the track was completed, it sounded good and I felt it was ready to be shared with the world, but first I wanted to share it with someone special, a great friend of mine from Mofriz Media: this guy is Kristian Mantalvanos (or Frizau on Instagram) which I met after an amazing work done with Emilia Pason (videomaker and photographer) and Sofia Tomasin (a truly 360° artist, painter, dancer and actress). Also, George Sandru (check him on Spotify or Instagram) had the pleasure to work with Kristian and his drone… and shortly after the video he did for George, I had the pleasure to drive the car down to Glendalough to shoot the video of Alessandro Zangrando “What’s Behind The Dusk” (watch it here). And that day I was shocked (seriously) seeing how Kristian tries to print on a video the essence of the moment, the music, the artist and all those little shades that can be felt when you close your eyes and follow the music flow.

Shortly after, I shared “Inner Power” with Kristian saying “I have a feeling that this video should be different, not just shooting somewhere… but some animations and explosions. Don’t you think?”
Kristian, after listening to the track for the first time, said “Definitely”.
And this is how the concept behind the video of “Inner Power” started: I was seeing this force that awakes, Kristin was seeing these cryptic figures fighting one against the other, the Greys as we started to call them until the Golden One shows up to make order in all that chaos.

Kristian showed me the first draft, hitting the point straight away: I will try to give you a little more details about the madness that happens in the video (you can see it below if you haven’t yet).

As you can see, we have a nice guy walking in this empty space, shining in his silver dress and helmet.
He is walking toward us, getting ready and immediately another Grey shows up pushing him down.
The second guy is not quite “as proud” as the first one, he looks scared, running away from something, and little by little we have more Greys that start fighting ferociously one against the other, like our thoughts, constantly going one against the other.

Do you get the point?
Can you see what I am saying?

That space is our head (the brand should give you a hint, more or less) and the more chaos is happening, the more fighting, this is starting to push the Golden One to “wake up” and “do something” otherwise the whole “world” will collapse… Our heads will not be able to face all this confusion and madness, because of bad thoughts, ideas, toxic people, relationships and fake news… EVERYTHING is going inside your brain and your thoughts start fighting in order to survive, you are fighting against yourself in order to keep your pure essence alive.

But it is not enough: we need help, a help that comes from inside, it has always been there since the beginning, the Golden One will bring back balance.
There will be a fight, there will be casualties, you can be damaged but you are not bleeding, everything is inside your head, but yes, the pain is real (I am not saying that taking back the balance has happy and stress-free steps… unfortunately sometimes we have to deal with pain during the process).

After all, your Inner Power will give you strength as it always does.

And the way Kristian has shown this… still amazes me.
That’s why this track resonates with me the most so far.

‘Inner Power’ official video

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post The awakening of the ‘Inner Power’ appeared first on NikMartken.

This is how Parwana Amiri starts one of her letters about the Ritsona Refugee Camp, Letter No.15, a story that is not isolated, a story that is common in places like that, between these people that dream about countries with no borders, where everyone is living their own life and they don’t have to run away from injustice, war, terrorism, blood and death.

I didn’t know who Parwana was before, but now I know her story, which unfortunately is very similar to the stories of many other people in this crazy world. I got the chance to get closer to these stories thanks to Marta Visentin, an Italian translator that decided to give an Italian voice to this girl, by translating the letter n.15 into Italian, our native language. When you read about the atrocities, the blood and everything that is happening around you in your own language, it resonates stronger, more powerful… And when Marta asked me to use ‘Circle Of Life’ as the soundtrack for this project, I couldn’t say no: I am honoured that something I created is helping to spread the voice and bringing some light to a reality that we, sometimes, deliberately decide to ignore because it’s too hard to digest.
Marta worked on the translation of the letter and took care of all relations between us, Parwana and Linn Hansen, a German videomaker who did the magic putting together the video, creating a visual representation of the letter, with an occidental point of view.

Nothing more to say, I leave you with the video and please share it, share the word, share what Parwana Amiri and others like her have to say.

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

About the women mentioned in this post

Parwana Amiri is a human rights activist, author and poet. She is also a teacher and coordinator of “Wave of Hope for the Future”. She is currently living with her family in Ritsona Refugee Camp, Greece.
Follow Parwana Amiri on Instagram
“Eyes Of Refugees” official Instagram page
“Wave Of Hope For The Future” official Instagram page and website: https://waveofhope.org/

Marta Visentin is an Italian translator specialising in literary translation from English and Spanish to Italian. She is based in Dublin, Ireland. She translates articles from English to Italian for the independent journalism project “Migrant Women Press”.
Follow Marta on Instagram

Linn Hansen is a visual artist and writer based in Dublin and Hamburg. Her works centre around quiet sceneries, urban still lives and our placement within those abstract spaces. A theme that is also reflected in her upcoming novel.
https://www.linnhansen.net/
Follow Linn Hansen on Instagram

The post Letters to the World from Ritsona (no.15) appeared first on NikMartken.

This song comes from Irish music and it can be found in British folk music too.
Many artists did their own version of this ballad, like Christy Moore and Loreena McKennitt.

The story is pretty simple and straightforward and, if you have already heard the song, you know how it ends… If you don’t know the song, before proceeding please check the lyrics while listening to the song (I personally suggest Loreena McKennitt’s version that can be found here).

I really like this song, I love the way it sounds and the way that Loreena McKennitt especially interprets it, her voice, the instruments that were picked for making those peculiar notes… so many things caught my attention, way before moving to Ireland.
Then I started to hear the song on the streets and pubs, played in a simpler way (voice and guitars only for instance, sometimes with other traditional instruments as well, like bodhran, tin whistle or a fiddle) and, no matter what, that song has always captured my heart.

Then I started to focus more on the meaning of the song, the words, the story and what happened to that pretty fair maid. Thanks to a good friend of mine, I also discovered the band Omnia which did their own version called “Who Are You” and gave a twist to the song: this time they swapped the two protagonists (check their version here if you are curious).

These hints planted a little seed in my head… which started to grow and then, out of nowhere, some beats on the drums came out, with a huge feeling of something tribal, innate and primordial that reminded me of the vibes in the song “Voodoo” by Godsmack.

I wanted to explore more, and more instruments were added, didgeridoo, handpan and, most importantly, an instrument that I was playing for the first time ever: the overtone flute.

I would like to share a little story behind the instrument and its sound because it goes way back in the past. I remember watching a TV series called “The Sentinel” during my childhood; the theme had a peculiar sound that caught my ear immediately, and every time that theme was playing on the TV I was there trying to understand what it could possibly be… Then it got almost forgotten in a drawer of my mind until I heard some tunes by Omnia including that sound, awakening memories and my old hunting.

I watched videos of the band playing live and then it appeared: this empty wooden tube played by Steve “Sic” Evans. Now I could easily do some research and there it was: the overtone flute. The name refers to the main family, but there are millions of overtone flutes out there. For instance, in my track “The Story Of Siobhán The Temptress” I used a hand-made Koncovka by the Russian shop Taiga Music Art.

And here we are: beats, primordial vibes, voodoo, tribal influences, mellow notes from a handpan, air beats from the didgeridoo and that sound out of nowhere floating in the middle of the madness, the Koncovka.

When complete the song reminded me of something, reminded me of some kind of witchcraft and revenge, I don’t know why… but then I remembered the Celtic song “As I Roved Out”.

Pretty strange feelings I have to say, why is this witchcraft suddenly linked to a woman and a Celtic song? In that moment I had the whole view of the puzzle: this song is what happened next, after that night in which originally a girl was seduced and abandoned. That girl, for me, has a name, Siobhán, and she wants to have her revenge on the man who did it, but not only… all people are behaving in the same way. It was pretty clear.

So the story develops:

A young woman, simple and clever… was just walking in the streets of her little village. Everybody knew her and her beautiful manners; she always wanted to help, even if sometimes it was too much, but she did not care. She was always there, giving a hand to the ones who needed it the most. One day a man arrived. He seduced her, he used her… after that, Siobhán said “never again” and she became ‘The Temptress’, using her mind and her smiley face to attract those men who were cheating, mistreating, ignoring, abandoning other women, seducing them and leaving them as it had happened to her. So, the question now is: who is, or who was, the real Temptress?

Not saying that Siobhán is right, because this behaviour can cause pain too, but in a certain way, it is totally understandable…
Anyways, this is just my point of view, a different story that somehow was born in a mystic way and still has something unexplainable.

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

If you want to learn more about the artist who did the awesome cover for this song, read this post I wrote some time ago… She is YSE: follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The post The story of Siobhán, that became a Temptress appeared first on NikMartken.

This is a personal interpretation of what Euphoria could be and, in a nutshell, we can say “being you”… and these feelings are so strong that you can’t resist them for long: you must go with the flow and you will feel alive.

Let’s take some steps back.
Remember when you were a child and you weren’t analyzing your behaviour that much?

If you felt that it was the time to move, dance or make some noise, you simply did it. We all did it.
That’s the kind of euphoria I am referring to, a pure and simple essence that comes from our inner self, the young one, that still pushes us to have some real and healthy fun during our life right in the moment we need it the most.

This young entity knows us, but it also knows that our brain needs to be switched off and sometimes we have to follow the pure instinct of moving freely, going with the right beat of that song.

And with the video, I’ve tried to share this personal view, with some psychedelic vibes…

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

One last but very important concept of the song that I really want to share with you is about the cover of ‘Euphoria’.

I was not really sure how to express the concept above as an image, but something out of nowhere whispered “why don’t you ask your nephew?”.

That actually sounded pretty cool, but still, what could I ask him to draw?
The answer came pretty easy in the end: it could be me playing the main instruments of the song, the drums and didgeridoo. So, I took a couple of pictures and sent them to him and he literally created the awesome design you can see in the cover, after a little “psychedelic” twist that I made to be coherent with the track.

This is his personal interpretation, what matters the most to me.

‘Euphoria’ is available on:

• Official store: https://bit.ly/3oBzNY4
• Spotify: http://spoti.fi/36l9HCk
• iTunes & Apple Music: http://apple.co/3iSaC27
• Tidal: http://bit.ly/36o5b5V
• Deezer: http://bit.ly/2KWMcI2
• Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/36oaFxx
• Amazon: https://amzn.to/3thPbfI
• Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/3oqyjiZ
• Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/36ng5cc

The post This is ‘Euphoria’! appeared first on NikMartken.

Imagine for a second: you are a sailor that is stepping into this huge vessel towards some land over the sea, a place that nobody knows or thinks it exists. There’s only a strong belief that this place IS there.
I can feel excitement while walking on this huge boat, which will be your home for months, everything is new, and everything is going to be new. You see the ocean from the bow, a little wind whispers to you and the sun is smiling.
The bell rings, a quick kiss to the one you are leaving behind… metre after metre, the vessel is now taking you closer to this unknown land.

Nowadays this is what people feel when they are starting a new life somewhere else, like I did, like other friends of mine did… You are in a vortex of emotions that is hard to explain with words, but they are so strong that you feel more than alive, you feel everything of the present, you ARE the present, your present.

You look back at your parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, all relatives and friends… Once again. Then your sight is searching for that “new land in sight”. Sometimes we quickly look back, sometimes we don’t because it hurts but the voice inside our heart is screaming loud “go man, go!” because that IS the moment when you are alive.

Everything is so clear that sometimes it is blurry, everything is so alive that it seems to be a dream, everything is there and nothing is at the same time, a limbo of life perhaps…

Feelings of fear and resentment overwhelm us, we are scared, we feel already alone… But when we gradually start to live this new adventure, we become stronger, confident, our fears vanish into thin air, and of course, our feelings for the ones we leave behind become stronger than ever.
Like that sailor, we set our internal compass towards new targets, new ideas and an extreme desire to be something new. The compass will guide you towards all those problems that must be faced in order to win the prize, and we all know how to play this game, right? We have to fight at the very beginning, but once we know the tricks, we will be ready to do the same process all over again and again. It might be easier, it might be harder, but the compass is still there, with a few scratches maybe, but still working and guiding you in the new paths to come.

The compass

The compass is probably the first thing you associate with a journey, especially a journey of discovery or an expedition. The beauty of this instrument stays in its simplicity: it detects a magnetic field and the little needle will point to the North.
It is so small and fragile, but actually detects one of the strongest elements in the Universe: our planet’s magnetic field is suddenly visible on our hands!

However, its strength is also its weakness: any magnetic field could interfere, materials can interfere and the direction is all of a sudden compromised, so you are following the wrong path towards your goal.

This is the reason why I wanted the compass to be the main symbol for ‘Voyage‘: it is a very important tool if you are sailing on unknown seas and discovering these new lands, but also it can be altered if you are close to something which is changing that path, as it happens on a journey if you do something wrong.
And if you persist in doing that, the compass will show you exactly what you want, not your target anymore.

Anyway, the main reason why I chose the compass can be found on the first lines of this post: emotions.
Hard to explain in a few words what happens when you leave your homeland, knowing that it could be forever…
Sure, this song is also for the ones whose dream is to leave and start their own adventure from scratch but that have not done it yet… Definitely not an easy task but, trust me, if you are one of these people: it is immensely beautiful and worth it to try.

‘Voyage’ official visualizer

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post A Compass that guides you in your Voyage appeared first on NikMartken.

I have already mentioned YSE previously: she is the Dutch artist that kindly created the awesome cover for my last single ‘The Story Of Siobhan The Temptress‘ (you can read the post here and follow her on Twitter and Instagram).

She actually didn’t do only this piece of art…
I met her in a totally random way, and with one song that you should probably already know well: my debut single ‘Skies • Seas • Rocks‘.

But let’s go back to the start.
I was surfing on Twitter some time ago and I landed on this page, “YSE” it said, where the drawings were something totally different from the things you usually see. I could recognise some empathy in the design, something human but still, hard to explain with words the right emotions that I got at this first sight.
I started to follow the artist and to look deeply at the designs and of course, commenting on some of them and expressing my admiration for her great work.
After all, besides being a musician, I am a Graphic Designer, and I really got inspired by her work.

I remembered that I posted a tweet about my debut single ‘Skies • Seas • Rocks‘, tagging her saying something like “I hope you like this” or similar, I don’t remember honestly.

After that, she sent me a direct message saying one of the best things that you could ever say to a musician: “I liked your music, the video” and “I got inspired by it for a new artwork and today I finished the drawing. I would love to share it with you.”

I was amazed.
I was honoured.

YSE captured the song, its essence and gave to what was my ‘Mother Nature’ her view, a face, an entity.
She asked for permission to share it… and here is the Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by YSE Design (@designbyyse)

To me, it’s perfect.
YSE also shared her view about this song, and I would like to share it with you too:

“Skies • Seas • Rocks represent the Earth for me. I don’t see the Earth as a feminine element that is desperate for love. The earth has its natural processes and responds to them when people disrupt these processes. She does what she cannot do otherwise: expressing the disturbance in the form of an enlargement of elements such as a firestorm or a tsunami. The Earth will continue in its own way, even if it becomes a black mass and there are no further romanticized emotions involved, but only a peaceful conscience.”

At the beginning of this post, I talked about “Mother Nature” and I refer to it as the Great Element that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of the mother.
I share the same thought, since this entity, the Earth, is something that we cannot fully understand: in the end, the Earth is everything and everyone. It has processes that we can’t control, as she said. It’s all around us and inside us… YSE simply used beautiful and powerful words to explain it.

Naturally, when I started working on the idea that straight after became a song, I wanted her to create the cover of ‘The Story Of Siobhan The Temptress‘ and, obviously, she nailed it… but I will talk about this in-depth in the specific post dedicated to the song.

So please, do yourself a favour and follow YSE on Twitter and Instagram.

If you haven’t watched the video yet, here’s the song I am talking about:

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post ‘Mother Nature’: from a song to a drawing appeared first on NikMartken.

It is like waves hitting the rocks during a blowing storm, but the rocks stay there, motionless, getting hit…. again and again, forever. They get consumed by the storm, by the water, but they stay there as if they are finding some kind of pleasure in this self-destructive behaviour. Like us, at times.

You may say: “Why are you using the ‘rocks’ as a reference to ourselves? Rocks are strong, they are facing the storm, the waves for years and years and even though they are getting damaged, they still stay there”.

Nothing is more true than that and yes, we are strong, like rocks.
During my life, on the one hand I have met people that showed me this strength, they taught me what is really important in life. I am constantly receiving these lessons from older, or younger, friends and this is simply awesome! But, on the other hand, I have met people who are “strong” from another point of view.
If you are wondering which one, well… I have no better way to say it so I will be pretty straightforward: self-destruction.

I bet most of us faced this at least once: it could have been us or someone we know.
When we see this in others it’s so easy to say something and act, but it’s so hard to see it when it’s us having a self-destructive behaviour.
So here comes the reason why I am referring to rocks: they are strong, absolutely, but they are not moving away from there, the sea, and the sea is hitting them with waves, destroying them little by little until they will be sand. Sand, which once was a mountain.

If you watch the animated video (available also at the end of this post), you will see the “waves” representing ourselves: the two human profiles are creating a shape, and that shape shakes… the waves are released, somewhere.
As I said in the description of the video, it’s up to us to find the right way to escape from this labyrinth of pleasures and thoughts… Otherwise, what will remain of us? Nothing else but a tiny little stone at the mercy of the sea.

If you want to listen to te song, just play on the video visualizer below.

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post Getting lost in the ‘Debauchery Waves’ appeared first on NikMartken.

I opened the message, shared my email and immediately after I got on my inbox my very first review, done by Drew Jarvie (you can follow him on Twitter @Delerium65) and the Brecon Indie Reviewer Team.
Drew reviewed my latest release, ‘The Story Of Siobhán The Temptress’ that features also a great artist and friend J.P. Kallio (follow him on Twitter or Spotify).
If you want to listen to the song, just go to my discography page or watch the video at the end of this post, but read the review first: it’s really worth it!

Before starting, I must say a few words about the drawing made by the Dutch artist YSE, which explains exactly the story behind this track: I will write more about this in another post… If you want to see more art from YSE, please check her page on Instagram or Twitter @designbyyse.

So, let’s begin…!

Here is the review of ‘The Story Of Siobhán The Temptress’ by Drew Jarvie from the Brecon Indie Reviewer Team and founder of ‘The Delerium Trees’.

Siobhan is a beautiful, young and kind woman always ready to help anyone. However, a stranger, a man, arrives to the village – uses her, seduces her, abandons her. Far from being defeated or cowed in any way she embarks on turning the tables. She becomes the seducer, seducing these men and leaving them as she was left. Siobhan, has become The Temptress, is she still here, who knows, the story, as we all sadly know, still is and goes on.

Storytelling in music, whether it be in full blown symphonies or in simple folk songs, is found in numerous examples. Ireland, where Nik Marten lives and Scotland, where I live, have many tales of folklore and myth most of which have been handed down from Prehistoric times through to the Celtic tribes and are normally associated with power struggle or internal tribal strife. Was Siobhan involved in one of these? Throw in a few battles and wars since then and there is a ready-made source for instrumental storytelling.

The main storyteller is the flute which appears to weave an intricate conversation of self-doubt in Siobhan’s mind, what can she do, how does she retain self-belief. This quickly joined by percussive elements including the drumkit and handheld instruments. One of these is the Handpan, a relatively new instrument with ties to Indonesian, Thai and West Indian traditions, if rhythmically played it also has ties to the Bodhran – the big difference is that the instrument can be played in different keys and tones. Another instrument making a fantastic contribution is the Didgeridoo, it lays the platform with its incessant pedal point rhythmic playing and occasional sforzandos (sudden loudness). It adds mystery and pushes forward the story telling.
Putting this all together must have been no easy task; it works beautifully, the production is world-class.
The accompanying video with scenes of lochs and trees adds to music, almost impressionist in style, a Monet picture that moves.

Nik Marten describes himself as a drummer that loves percussion, he obviously loves flute as well going this example of intricate playing. J. P. Kallio adds an extra dimension adding occasional guitar to mix, adding to the song with subtle style.

If Siobhan is listening, she’ll be impressed, just like the rest of us!

Drew Jarvie (The Delerium Trees, follow him on Twitter @Delerium65)
Brecon Indie Reviews (@BreconIReviews)

Simply great words from Drew: thanks, man! You nailed it 😉
Also, these lads shared other thoughts about this song on Twitter… Let’s see what they are saying.

The first one is from The Blindfold Experience, a Rock/Acoustic Musical Project with artists from around the world (follow @theblindfoldex1).

https://t.co/fbptCXuMN4
Michael Lind, founder of @theblindfoldex1 is a WW Musician collaborative expert, who finds real sounds through Musicians playing instruments, a perfect choice to Review @NikMartken pic.twitter.com/HOOP4aNUhh

— Brecon Indie Reviews Mary Wood (@BreconIReviews) March 11, 2021

Below, the review from Reckless Velvet, a guitarist and music producer (follow him @RecklessVelvet).

Another great Reviewer choice, @RecklessVelvet is a WW collaborator in Music and refined in
multi instrumental and engineered sounds!https://t.co/fbptCXuMN4 pic.twitter.com/qYorNvYfrh

— Brecon Indie Reviews Mary Wood (@BreconIReviews) March 11, 2021

Then there’s also a Guest Reviewer, Ed Harris, a Celtic Multi-Instrumentalist and Recording Artist from North Carolina, USA (follow him @EdHarrisMusic).

Our first Guest Reviewer, @EdHarrisMusic is a Celtic,
multi- instrumentalist and Music wonder; his skills and passionate Music are revered throughout the Indie World.https://t.co/fbptCXuMN4 pic.twitter.com/ziZJ8NJ8Rd

— Brecon Indie Reviews Mary Wood (@BreconIReviews) March 11, 2021

And last but not least, a great musician and friend from Australia, Leigh Thomas (follow him @LeighThomasAU).

Our next Guest Reviewer @LeighThomasAU shares his thoughts as an out of Genre Musician.
Leigh was recently reviewed and hands down, his Music was loved
by all of us!
He is a standout Indie supporter!https://t.co/fbptCXuMN4 pic.twitter.com/pcsCDpxbw2

— Brecon Indie Reviews Mary Wood (@BreconIReviews) March 11, 2021

Thanks lads: you all rock! See you soon with (hopefully) the next review 😉
And, as promised, here the video of ‘The Story Of Siobhán The Temptress’.

If you have trouble loading the video on this page, please click here.

The post ‘The Story Of Siobhán The Temptress’ reviewed by Brecon Indie Reviews appeared first on NikMartken.