Feature: Marble Raft Decodes “To Have and to Hold and to Break”
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
Everything we do begins with a core of melodic indie pop, often written on acoustic guitar. These days we somehow manage to submerge it beneath cascades of instruments and analog machinery. ”To Have and to Hold and to Break” is no exception. It still turned into an energetic and bumpy dream pop-ride though.
How did you approach the arrangement and composition of the music for "To Have and to Hold and to Break?"
It began with a simple guitar line and a melody, old school indie pop sort of. Then we started adding bulky string synthesizers from the 1970s, and once you've taken that turn, there's really no going back. It had to become a swirling and shimmering kind of tune. Since those sounds are really high carb, we thought "enough is enough". But no, still we had to add stylophone, auto harp, mellotron, congas and whatnot. It's kind of a mess. But it's our mess.
How does this song fit into your overall artistic vision and what can listeners expect from you in the future?
If we follow suit, we seem to be heading into more saturated territory soundwise. We're romantic and escapistic in all we do, so we're always after some sort of lush. melodic euphoria. This song is a glimpse of our upcoming album "Dear Infrastructure", which will be released in early 2025.
Can you tell us more about you as a duo?
We're restless control freaks from Stockholm and Gothenburg, the two main rival cities in Sweden. So we're building a musical bridge between them. We find inspiration in everything from old maps to plants.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
We like to conjure up fairy tales in indie pop shape, rather than make songs about the real world. Our first album focused on two kids who set off on a voyage across the seas, with their two horses and a raft. On the upcoming album, they have grown into teenagers and found an eerie, corroding city without a name. So most songs are about them exploring it somehow, searching for kicks and something to hold on to.