There has been a considerable buzz around Mark Barrott for sometime now.
He is a man of serious musical pedigree and he founded the highly-respected International Feel label back in 2008, after moving to Uruguay, where his A&Ring tempted the elusive DJ Harvey out of studio retirement for his genre-defying Locussolus project.
He followed it with new work from artists like Quiet Village, Gatto Fritto and the Italian cosmic disco don Daniele Baldelli.
Since moving to Ibiza two years ago, he’s continued producing and releasing music anonymously on his label as Rocha, Bepu N’Gali, Flights of Fancy, Boys from Patagonia and The Young Gentlemen’s Adventure Society. The releases covered house, Afrobeat and proper downtempo balearic and quickly sold out. The music is cult and desirable: Young Gentlemen’s… only track, ‘Adventure Party’ now goes on Discogs for £200.
He pressed 500 copies of the ‘Sketches 1’ EP on vinyl and it sold out in two hours. A special edition 12” in collaboration with innovative retailer LN-CC, featuring the beautiful birds of paradise artwork, sold out in two minutes.
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“Built around a reverb-heavy, almost comically relaxed guitar riff that lopes around as synths sigh in the background and a pretty flute motif skips about like a child on a beach, it’s the sort of song that makes you long for vest and shorts weather” – THE GUARDIAN
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Mark Barrott’s ‘Sketches From An Island’ compresses a Balearic heartbeat into nine warm gems which paint a picture of Ibiza, the people and the magnetic beauty that pulses through it. Recorded in the island’s northern hills using “weird percussion, some slide guitars and a few borrowed synths”, it’s a melodic and mysterious representation of a place seeped in a rich and rebellious history.
Barrott says, “Sketches is inspired by those weird, unique little oddities that would turn up on early José Padilla mix tapes that he’d sell in the Las Dalias hippy market, before he even went to the Café Del Mar.
“It’s influenced by living in Ibiza year-round, and by the feeling of what I think balearic sounds like”.
This is music for the days when you need musical sunshine. Or as original Café Del Mar’s José Padilla, has it: “This is what I call Balearic.”
Mark Barrott Sketches From An Island tracklisting
1. Baby Come Home
2. Dr Nimm’s Garden of Intrigue & Delight
3. Go Berri be Happy
4. Essene
5. Formentera Headspace Blues (Pts. 1 & 2)
6. Deep Water
7. Island Life
8. Back to the Sea
9. Sacred Islands
ALBUM RELEASED 2ND JUNE ON INTERNATIONAL FEEL
In the meantime you can hear the gorgeous lead song ‘Baby Come Home’ here: https://soundcloud.com/international-feel/1-baby-come-home-1
Sketches From An Island blog: http://sketchesfromanisland.com/
Album pre-order: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sketches-from-an-island/id828387280
Loire Magazine 