Oktaf, 2010
The title of this album could not be more appropriate. Lazy Sunday Funerals is a deep, spacey trip to the realms of the ocean, where you might find beautiful fish, happy and chilling. If dolphins and whales could actually listen to some tunes, swimming around with their MP3 players on, this album would be on their favorites list.
Its high drones are extremely mellow—nothing dark, but light blue as the ocean or the skies on a lazy, sunny Sunday after a massive fulfilling lunch. I suggest you go to the park, lay down on the ground, set your dog free, put this album on, and forget about the next day or your boss (if you have one) telling you what to do.
Marsen combined the ambience of deep drones with orchestral instruments, creating occasional tension, only to get back to the relaxing nature of the whole album. The heavy influence of classical music becomes apparent through the well-crafted pads, chords, and scarce voices. Field recordings add slightly different directions to some of the tunes, but contrast is not necessarily in his vocabulary. Be careful not to drool over the pillow after a while, though. If you get too deep into this album, you might go into suspended animation.
The drones are similarly tough. Don’t expect wild variations or weird experiments with synths and textures. The album has an identity, and it does not run away from it. I am sure he doesn’t want to change the path here anyway. It’s a ball full of lasagna, a downtempo feast for the drone heads out there. Maybe you want to listen to it just once or twice.