Onward + Upward was written, recorded and produced between April 2002 and February 2003 at Meat Locker Studios in Lincoln, Nebraska. Marianas is Aaron Grauer, Aaron Coleman and Ryan Dee. Thunder broom on “My Body Is A Sail” by Jason Morehead. Drums on “My Body Is A Sail,” “The Simple Things,” and “Miette” by Tom Tollefsen.
Thank you to Tina, Teri, Kitty, Malcom, Tom, Jason, Dana, Roger, Allison, Sara, and all of our families and friends. © 2002-2023 All rights reserved, all wrongs reversed.
“As much a respectful homage to the dreamy, chimey, tunesmiths that came before them -- Yo La Tengo, Bedhead, Tristeza to name a few -- as it is a modern exercise in pure ambience for ambience' sake, this mostly instrumental debut works because these three Lincoln lads love what they're doing with every backward-tracked note.
When I say Yo La Tengo, I mean the early, trippy stuff, dead-on right down to the mumbling vocals (on the very few songs where nasal, sad-sack croaker Ryan Dee tries to emote), the dreadline string synths, the echoing guitars. Though distinctly downcast, there is a definite, undeniable groove that quietly snaps thanks to the simplest of melodies and arrangements. When they tech it up (the subtle programming on "We Were Safe, Now We're Sorry") things shift to the Notwist side of the house, which is a good thing.
They hit their peak on the slight "You Keep Me Up at Night, Late," a pretty guitar-and-organ number that could be the soundtrack in an indie film when the urban scenester says goodbye and heads home alone along dark, freshly washed streets.
Their "experimental" numbers -- the soundscape "In Lourve," album closer "Last Minutes of the Day" -- fall flat and have all the appeal of the drone-sounds played on the dream-escalator at O'Hare. They're unnecessary filler in a CD loaded with some of the most gorgeous post-ambient stuff I've heard since the genre began to slip away with the break up of Tristeza. Seems no one's doing it anymore, certainly not around here, and not as well as these guys.”
Tim McMahan,
Lazy-I,
2003.
The roots of experimentalism lie at the heart of Lincoln, Nebraska's Marianas. In addition to guitars and vocals, the band makes heavy use of keyboards and programming, using synthesized drums and layering their guitars to create the band's textured sound that leans heavily toward the rock spectrum but recalls the electronic side of projects like The Notwist or Four Tet. The true brilliance of the band's music, however, is in the images their music is likely to create. Great time spent on mixing the effort has resulted in layered, deep songs, filled with washes of sound, layered guitars, emphatic but not overbearing beats, and a healthy respect for their rock foundation.
The opening track, "Hunting & Pecking," evokes images of the Midwest, filled with ambling guitars and a mid-paced tempo, providing a nice setting for the album as a whole. Much of the album continues at a mid-level pace, not too slow but still soothing enough to create a moody soundscape, such as "My Body is a Sail," which brings in uniquely mixed vocals to the mix.
Although some of the band's songs get slow and meandering at times ("We Were Safe, Now We're Sorry," "In Louvre"), most have more rhythm to them and a nice, subtle, enjoyable flow, such as "Bring Flowers." And even the slower songs take on a lovely, soothing effect. Perhaps the best songs are the simplest, such as the lovely "The Simple Things," with soft vocals and melodic guitar.
It's been said that anyone with a decent computer and ProTools can make an electronic album, but the overwhelming amount of home-recorded music clearly proves that, while they can, they seldom make a decent album. Marianas, on the other hand, keep their interest in rock music first and foremost in mind as they mix in programming, keyboards, and effects, and the end result is something much more familiar and comfortable while still satisfyingly unique. It's a nice album, perfect for those long summer drives through Midwestern landscapes.
Jeff Marsh,
2003
Marianas from Nebraska does not heed dogmas, genres or the trend of time. This headlong, purposefulness has instead given rise to a beautiful and strong work in the unlimited land between subdued post-rock and ambient-pop.
In the now beginning, drowsy summer I have found myself a blanket of sound for the long, cool evenings. For all those hours where it is not entirely dark and a whim of the low light at dusk or dawn sails though an open window.
Marianas is a quiet existence and a sneaky, but honest, genre-denying revolution. It is a friendly, debuting group, who promises more inexplicable music in the future, too. This is also implied in the album title, "Onward + Upward", but is perhaps more an eavesdropping elapse, drifting in time and space, forward as upward, than a self-conscious statement of own heavenward flight. One thing is certain: The album is loaded with a longing, which at times appears even celestial, running upwards towards the strange, indescribable, and eternal.
Marianas is a quintet of musicians from Lincoln, Nebraska. They formed in 2002, initially a trio, but they soon upgraded their boundless audible stockpile with a drummer and a bassist. Their rarely seen mixture of ambient-pop, serene post-rock passages, and electronic glazing deals them a warm and original pocket of sound in the new and confusing world. An exotic fruit and hallucinogen, which leaves the listener in a strangely mellow shape believing that the world might be a sad and beautiful place, but here is hope and reason after all. Marianas' music should not be considered religiously converting nor convincing, but a grant-in-aid to the body and mind's own depots. Moving music that demands little of the listener but has a lot to offer, almost from beyond the perceivable.
The project occasionally radiates such innocent powers that it is tempting to call Marianas an elegant and visionary personification of the DIY movement. Musical brains and boilermen with access to a laboratory of glowing iBooks - though awe-inspiring through a balance between the heartfelt and importunate - using a dreamy versatility and thoughtfulness to avoid being affected, something the Danish beauty salons, Efterklang and Windermere [kindred Danish bands] for instance, sometimes lacks.
One could foolishly describe the album as a dance with elven girls, who, as I once read in a children's book, disappears as soon as one tries to grab their revelation of beauty. The masquerade begins with the haunting "Hunting & Pecking". Cut-up guitars waves on a waterbed of beautiful melodies, safely anchored to a sharp hi-hat and a crunchy side drum, while clearer bass and guitar tones sprinkle a magic powder over it all. Then follows "My Body Is a Sail", which bears a resemblance to British band Hood by virtue of the unnoticeable vocals, which celebrates the semi-electronic landscape. This poetic song emerges much more organically than its transatlantic relative with an idle feeling of folk-melancholy even.
From the third cutting the electronic garden of sugary liquids sets in again added various stringed instruments' pleasant ensemble playing. This agglomeration is potently dominating on a record with only two real songs and many recipes for instrumental music, which at the first listen can seem predictable and feeble. One should not be lead to believe that "Onward + Upward" is one among many of senseless DIY post-rock releases. As a whole the album reflects a discrete and detailed luxury, which the listener is reminded of by the illusory "In Louvre", which like a ghost ship floats through the ears and equips the listener with eyes, seeing the most astonishing unusual. Personally I feel like seeing into an ocean, as if it was an aquarium, in the same way Moses and his following must have done in The Old Testament. The viewer suddenly sees the sights that were hidden before the consumption of this monumental pill.
Half-visible references to Sigur Rós and Múm appears on the album's sixth track, but the prime movers insist on using their own personal brushes in the painting of the album, which is impressive, you know. Marianas reveal a partiality in the titles for visual arts and perhaps also French movies - Miette is the name of the brave and sympathetic girl in La cité des enfants perdus. This 'feel' for words leaves a desire for more lyrical material from Marianas.
We have detected another small star on the sky. It becomes the most apparent in the hours around the sun's retreat and is seen brighter wearing headphones, which is an invitation from the crewmembers of the exploding sun themselves. No, this is a bad metaphor - Marianas do not run grandiosely heavenwards, they create visionary music down to earth. The result is not a long way away from something essential.
Listen if you like: American Analog Set, Logh, Sigur Rós, Glim, The Stars of The Lid.
Grade: 4½ of 6.
Daniel Flendt Dreesen
Undertoner.dk
Duffy’s Tavern,
2004.
“A lovely and warm collection that mixes Rock Action's gently pastoral feel with Notwist-styled click-n-cut pop. It's not entirely seamless - the vocals could've used a bit more work - but for a debut album, it's astonishingly accomplished and confident, unafraid to throw a few curveballs into the mix (see the jazzy horns of "My Body Is A Sail," or the queasy, Eno-esque "In Louvre," for example). Highly recommended.”
re_trace,
Rate Your Music,
2013.
2. My Body is a Sail
3. We Were Safe, Now We’re Sorry
4. The Simple Things
5. In Louvre
7. Bring Flowers
8. Miette
9. Last Minutes of the Day
Ryan Dee, guitars, keyboards
Aaron Coleman, vocals, keyboards, programming
Jason Morehead, bass
Tom Tollefsen, drums