MARC ALLEN On the Making Of ‘Breathe’
What was the creative process like for this particular album 'Breathe?’
We had a small 4-track studio and had recently come off of a stint as an all-originals rock band, and wanted to experiment with instrumental, quiet, new age music. We had diverse musical backgrounds, encompassing classical, jazz, rock, country and theater, so it was more of an intent to dive into something new.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for 'Breathe?’
We sat down at piano and electric piano for the first session, started to play, never once spoke about anything, as in “what key are we playing in,” etc. After each piece, we found ourselves taking a deep breath, hence the title, ‘Breathe.’
After a couple hours, we listened back and thought, “perhaps we have the makings of an album here.” It was months later, we set up again, piano and vibraphone, and recorded what ended up being the rest of the album.
We pressed up 1,000 records (vinyl), hoping we might sell all 1,000. It took off, we ended up with distribution worldwide and eventually sales over 100,000 units.
Have you noticed any particular interpretations or connections that listeners have made with this album?
People often comment to us about the healing and relaxing nature of our music. Soothing, great for study, etc. Even as soundtrack for spoken audio and videos. We had no idea the album would get this kind of response or attention. We were also one of the very first on United Airlines’ “Music In the Air” programming when the decided to include this genre of music.
How would you describe your musical style or genre?
For this album, it is new age, instrumental, contemplative, relaxing, great for spa and healing environments.
How do you balance creativity and commercial success in your music career?
We always go for the creative focus, because fulfilling that is what’s most important. We were not looking at this commercially when we recorded the album; it’s success surprised us, and we followed up with more, just following the creative muse.