Tensnake

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Tensnake

Marco Niemerski, otherwise known and adored across the world as Tensnake is a mere few days away from releasing his debut album, Glow. It is a pop-infused, summery and euphoric record with romantic nuances throughout. Being responsible for club classic, Coma Cat has expectations set high for the record and Marco isn’t intimidated but excited by it. It’s a pretty big deal for me. It’s my debut and I’m excited to see the reaction of people because they know me mostly for club tracks of course, and I’m [now] trying to become more of a songwriter type of producer. However, it appears he doesn’t stray too far from his house roots and manages to add a pop twist in a way that simply feels like a natural progression rather than a shock tactic. I’ve kind of prepared [my fans] for what’s coming with the album now and as a fan myself, he isn’t wrong.

There is an odd familiarity to each track that doesn’t make this ‘pop’ record feel contrived or particularly shocking – it’s essentially Tensnake with vocals and I’m really liking it. The album is inspired by the time when I was growing up and listened to a lot of radio pop in the 80s and it seems that Marco has been itching to be more vocal heavy with his production for a while. For me, a song is complete when you add vocals to it – but it doesn’t mean every song needs vocals. I knew quite early I wanted different singers on the album. He managed to recruit Jeremy Glenn, Fiora, Thabo and Jamie Liddell to lend their voices to the album and they’re all really unique and they all make sense, you know, there is no marketing stunt.

tensnake quote 1Despite the lack of marketing stunts, Glow looks to receive a whole lot of attention, especially with collaborations from producers/legends/geniuses Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont and Nile Rodgers. I was super happy to work with [Jacques] Lu Cont, because he is a great producer so I was really able to learn something from him and take something out of the session. The first song we worked on together, Feel of Love the instrumental sounded really Prince-like in a way and we needed a vocalist for it. There is no one better than Jamie Liddell to nail that song. Having dinner in Miami after meeting at the Winter Music Conference two years ago and subsequently messaging him on Facebook, Marco found Nile Rodgers to be the missing piece on an album that was taking three years to make. Rodgers is undoubtedly the biggest collaboration on the album, striking a few chords on Love Sublime, it was really easy and unspectacular in a way which is funny considering the kind of legend he is.” 

Marco welcomes the EDM boom with open arms, as it is not only flourishing in the mainstream with new dance music fans everyday but in turn opening doors for djs and producers who weren’t known outside of clubs – and he plans to take advantage of this. I mean its pretty crazy at the moment what’s going on [in dance music]. I just got invited to play with Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers at the Hollywood Ball in LA and that’s something I would never ever, ever have thought of happening. I would love to set up a band at some point to do bigger shows.” It is only recently that has become an option for electronic producers and as much as EDM can bring a sour taste to purists, it’s important to remember the Tensnakes of the world and how this has allowed for their dreams to come true.

tensnake quote 2Tensnake fans however need not lament, as this doesn’t mean an end to clubs shows or 4am deep house sets from one of the nicest guys in dance music.The music I did on the album is one thing and the club sets are another. This year I will probably dj more than ever so its definitely not going to stop.” Still set on the future, it seems that we may not have to wait another three years for Marco to release his next record as his plans are to “spend more time in the studio [and] improve as a producer and songwriter.” 

With his current love affair with America, Marco looks to spend the next three months there, touring and having the time of his life, enjoying the new dance scene and the success of his album. When it comes to Australia, I will definitely come by November, December, even January and spend a long time there. You guys have really good musicians so maybe I’ll stay there and work a little bit. I like Empire of the Sun and I really like Future Classic, they have released a lot of good stuff lately. There is a very vivid and alive scene in Sydney and Melbourne.” And when it comes to retiring, it seems that he needn’t look any further than our shores.“I read the other day in a German newspaper that Australia, but especially Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world. I hope I will be able to retire, buy a studio in Tasmania, grow my own fruit and make music there one day.”

 

Glow isout now on Virgin and locally EMI. You can pre-order an exclusive signed copy or limited double vinyl here or straight up on iTunes here. Stream it here.

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