Search - Martyn Bates :: Mystery Seas

"A Beautiful Secret to Own"

D. B. Rocca | Parkland, FL United States | 02/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While this inscription (taken from the song 'Of Night'), proclaimed on the back of the CD, may seem somewhat arrogant, it is amazingly accurate. Mystery Seas, the second installment of MB's Letters Written series, is one of those albums that only a few have discovered; however, its haunting songs about isolation and the spirtual development it engenders feel so universal one wonders how it has remained so obscure. Much like its predecessor, Mystery Sea is mostly voice and organ with some keyboard colorings and mysterious, distant flutes. These songs, though minimal in their execution, feel like full compositions and completely absorb you in thier world. Stand-outs include the opener, "You, Looking to me..." (Martyn's passionate vocals blast over the pulsing organs), "Trade Winds" (a tranquil ballad over waves of "white noise"), "If I Could See in Everyone" (a faster-paced song that must be heard), and "Of Night" (a gorgeous closing piece). While some of the lyrics may seem fragmented, the emotions they describe are often fragmented in nature: the album as a whole fills in any gaps in individual songs. I am tempted to call this Martyn Bates' masterpiece, but since he never stops making great albums who knows! Also recomended: the Twelve Thousand Days CD's, which is Martyn with Alan Trench, and, of course, his work as the duo Eyeless in Gaza with Peter Becker."