Oh boy. 2020..."Don't complain, don't explain", right? But in the six years since since Magik Markers' Surrender To The Fantasy, lots happened ! 2020 was meant as a sweet'n'sour commentary on this already-incisive year way before COVID and everything else; now, the Markers' time-stamped album statement is poised to hit even harder, its exterior further textured by coarse residue of the glue that binds us all together. Fortunately, the music in this statement doubles as a timeless demonstration of what John Shaw, Pete Nolan and Elisa Ambrogio do best: a singular clamor from that basement on the odder side of the tracks - the tracks that head off in all directions and divide everything and everyone in this godforsaken country.
"Born Dead", the Markers' third single drop from 2020, is a love ballad about, like, 45 people! All of them in a pool of fuzzy memories about the ones that tuned you in, turned you on and dropped you out, the friends that showed up, the people who fed you and made you realise you were starving - folks we've literally all known. Dosed with ripples of reverb-soaked voices and keys, as mellotron flutes wend haunted chamber-pop vibes in the air, "Born Dead" leaves a sweet but mysterious echo in your ears, which slowly trickles into your brain, triggering feelings in your soul. That's the sound of it WORKING
LISTEN TO BORN DEAD HERE