Emil Mark
Mellemtid
Tonal Union
When records get described as carnival-esque, it rarely means that the music in question sounds like something you’d hear at an actual carnival. Mellemtid, however, is carnival-esque in a very literal way, as its colorful organ melodies are capable of transporting listeners straight onto the fairway of an old-timey circus or country fair. Was that intentional? Not really, but it has everything to do with the sound palette chosen by Emil Mark, who made the EP after coming across some old practice organs while studying at the Danish National Academy of Music.
The instruments were actually lying dormant in the school’s basement, and though the organ has built up a certain cachet within experimental music circles during the past decade or so—thanks in no small part to the work of musicians like Kali Malone, Kara-Lis Coverdale and Sara Davachi—the ones that Mark found weren’t the grand, cathedral-ready beasts that those artists tend to favor. Designed for practicing, they emit humbler, more childlike tones, and Mark leaned right into that aesthetic, assembling light-hearted, melody-driven compositions that merrily twist and twirl through the air.
Opening track “Blomster” is an especially wide-eyed number, while slower, more pensive cuts like “I. Vinden” and “Op” emit some real “sad clown” energy, their wistful chords sounding like something you might hear in an old silent film about mimes. More energetic is “Resjer,” a percolating tune that Mark describes as his “EDM track”—don’t worry, there are no distorted bass blasts or cartoonish drops—but the EP’s true highlight is “Med Tog,” an acrobatic delight where his interweaving melodies gradually blossom into a kaleidoscopic burst of color. Yes, it still sparks visions of carnivals, but after years of hearing his organ-playing peers filling their records with meditative drones, Mark’s decision to wrest some joy out of the instrument is a welcome change of pace.