Martyn Bates
Mystery Seas (Letters Written #2)
(A-Scale 018, 1995, Cd) & (Shayo 006, March 2006, Cd)

Review 1

by Mike Barnes (The Wire, Summer/Autumn 1995)

Since his duo Eyeless In Gaza (with Pete Becker) emerged in the early 80s, Martyn Bates has been one of the most individual and idiosyncratic of English vocalists. On EIG’s occasional recordings, the potent blend of Bates’ barely controlled vocal exorcisms and settings of alluring rawness – plus a crop of good tunes – threw shapes too strange for most listeners. After 1987, Bates disappeared for a while before Eyeless In Gaza re-emerged in 1993. Recent work, including the brilliant Murder Ballads (Drift) (with Lull’s Mick Harris) foregrounded the folk strands that have resonated throughout his work.

Folk music is a term that carries centuries of dead wood, but these tales and unearthed memories set amongst sensual and harsh environments (‘Calm of Dark’, ‘On the Beach at Fontana’, ‘Sky After All’) continue his oblique take on the genre. Bates’s personal texts are set to a shifting backdrop of tremulous reedy organ, melodeon and sonorous piano – some are virtually a cappella.

Mystery Seas is a mixture of new songs and others that date back to the time of his first solo recording in 1982. It’s a seamless, coherent record though, and the sense of invention and inspiration make it seem absurd that he’s been on the periphery for so long.

Streets I Ran, a mini-album, takes one track from last year’s Saw You in Reminding Pictures Cd and pitches it into a batch of new improvisations. Bates’s voice – often disembodied and wordless – skirts around the duo’s spectral, rhythmic melange of percussion, keyboards and tape manipulation. They still sound self-possessed and quite unique.

Review 2

by GE (MFTEQ 12, August/September 1995)

How can one describe in words such emotional cascades as ‘Mystery Seas’. Once again without fail Martyn Bates creates flawless mirages and barren landscapes of explicit consciousness. Riddled throughout with the sort of incoherence and fragility which made Eyeless In Gaza such an immense encounter, at times the guy could be reciting his shopping list for all we know, or care really, for the magic conjured up by a single gasp expresses a magnitude of explanations. This is stark and lonely, yet warm and touching collection of songs drifts over your nerve ends and gently massages your soul. Truly enchanting, beautiful.

Review 3

by Jérôme Fiori (Sefronia, August 29 2006)

Tomber sur une personnalité aussi atypique que Martyn Bates n’est donné qu’à l’amateur rock éclairé : c’est un artiste quelque peu ignoré, malgré son projet le plus connu, le groupe Eyeless In Gaza fondé avec Peter Becker en 1980 (et qui tourne encore).

Peu disert et confiné dans l’obscurité depuis les débuts de sa carrière solo, il publie toujours des disques mais très rarement dans le format chanson. Ce ‘Mystery seas’ (pensé comme une suite à ‘Letters written’, premier album sous son nom paru en 1982), au contenu très personnel, en est pourtant une démonstration lumineuse. Martyn Bates plante un décor qu’il habite comme peu sauraient le faire : des histoires de mer, de brume, de ports, qui ont presque l’allure de traditionnels – mais un folklore à inventer, dans lesquels subsiste une certaine raideur du début des eighties qui les tire vers l’abstraction. Des lignes de fuite qui rejoignent celles du label Cherry Red au début des années 80 (la compil ‘Perspectives & distortion’, sur laquelle apparaît Eyeless In Gaza). La voix de Bates, très mélodieuse, peut se comparer dans ce qu’elle a d’affecté à des chanteurs comme Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode). Martyn Bates ose chanter, jusqu’à la superbe ‘On the beach of Fontana’, un titre a cappella seulement nimbé d’écho.

Le son et le style pourront paraître datés à certains, mais il faut dépasser cette première impression. ‘Mystery seas’ est minimaliste, sans rythmique ; Bates y construit un pont entre l’ancien, grave et noble (les mélodies, les orgues, l’harmonium), et la froideur technologique à laquelle il apporte un énorme supplément d’âme. Rarement des nappes de synthé auront aussi bien sonné, on croirait entendre des cornes de brume, ou des cornemuses … . Les amateurs de la Nico de ‘Desertshore’ ne pourront qu’apprécier.

Ce ‘Letters written No2’ a été enregistré en 1995 (Peter Becker à la console), bouteille jetée à la mer que l’on (re)découvre aujourd’hui et qui a su garder intact son atmosphère prenante. Il fera sans doute le même effet dans dix ans.

Review 4

by (Almost Cool, 2006)

Originally released back in 1995 (but sounding like it could have been recorded at any point in the past thirty or so years), Mystery Seas (Letters Written #2) has been attributed by some to be one of the forerunners in the whole “freak folk” movement that has grown more and more popular in the past couple years with artists like Devendra Banhart and others. Bates inhabits an entirely different world, though, and it’s truly difficult to find similar artists with which to compare his work. In combination with highly-charged vocals of Bates, the instrumentation comprised largely of organs, keyboards, and some sparse flutes makes for a downright mystical (and sometimes almost exorcism-esque) effort.

Considering the album runs almost an hour in length, the lack of variety (and percussion, for that matter) tends to make Mystery Seas (Letters Written #2) feel a bit long in places, but when Bates locks into things just right, the effect is mesmerizing. ‘You Looking To Me For A Sign’ opens the release and presents a nice introduction to his sound, with pulsing layers of synths and his dramatic vocals, but the second track ‘Shorepoem’ is one of the true kickers on the disc. Blending wheezy organ and melodion along with multi-part vocal harmonies and flutters of flutes, the song is downright hypnotic, lyrically touching on hazy forgotten memories that melt into the instrumentation itself. The same goes for the dream-like ‘Trade Winds’, which finds Bates soaring his vocals over dense washes of synths in a way that’s absolutely stunning.

It’s easy to tell from the song titles along that Bates is influenced (vocally, and musically as well, given the sea-shanty feel of several pieces) by the unpredictability and beauty of nature and weather. His songs are filled with references to the sea and atmospheric conditions, and as mentioned above, his sometimes downright spectral music fits alongside the words perfectly. The five-minute ‘Everywhere There’s Rain’ is a perfect example, drawing out chords to mini-drones while Bates sings his self-critical lament. Because of the unique instrumentation, this isn’t an album that will likely grab on first listen, but it’s one that I’ve found myself (sometimes almost inexplicably) going back to sometimes. As mentioned above, the lack of variety (and somewhat long running length) drag it down a bit, but there’s still some great songs to be heard.

Review 5

by José González (Mentenebre, September 25 2006)

ES UN TRABAJO DE GRAN CALIDAD MUSICAL, DONDE LAS LETRAS DE MARTYN BATES COMPARTEN SUS PENSAMIENTOS MÁS ÍNTIMOS, Y TIENEN EL PROTAGONISMO EN EL DISCO, SIN MINUSVALORAR LA MÚSICA QUE SIENDO CONDUCIDA EN TODO EL TRABAJO POR UN ÓRGANO EXPLORA SONORIDADES MÍSTICAS Y ASIMÉTRICAS.

Ha caído en mis manos como caído del cielo este disco de Martyn Bates, para descubrir con admiración a un artista y un trabajo que muy fácilmente puede pasar desapercibido para la mayoría, pero que detenerse por un momento a escucharlo te proporciona un viaje embriagador.

Martyn Bates nacido en 1960 lleva haciendo música desde los principios de los 80, en proyectos propios, colaboraciones y en solitario, viajando desde la música dark folk, experimental, dark pop, etc. Formó Eyeless in Gaza en 1980 con Peter Becker, con Anne Clark trabajó en 1992 y continua en contactos hasta nuestros días, de la colaboración con (Nurse With Wound, Coil) en 1999 saldría el grupo Twelve Thousand Days también con prolongación hasta hoy en día. A partir del 1993 también colaboró con Mick J. Harris (Scorn, Painkiller, Napalm Death).

Más recientemente esta envuelto con música que el mismo llama wyrd-folk o avant-folk, que es su visión de la evolución de la música folk, pero todo su trabajo tiene un denominador común, la poesía y la pasión. Martyn es un músico comprometido con su tiempo y toma de los sucesos ocurridos durante los últimos años inspiración, y nos hace reflexionar con su música.

Este CD ‘Mystery Seas’ es una reedición que data del 1995 editado anteriormente con Ambivalent Scale Recordings y en la actualidad con Shayo Music, es un trabajo compacto donde las letras de las canciones toman el protagonismo del disco, Martyn utiliza órgano y crea unas ambientaciones delicadas casi podríamos decir como plegarias, casi sacras. La música sin ser la protagonista del disco hace un acompañamiento delicioso, llevando el hilo conductor de esta reedición. Incorporando retazos pictóricos con otros instrumentos, de viento, percusiones y violín.

‘Mystery Seas’ es un trabajo por otro lado que necesita de algunas escuchas para captarlo al 100%, es un disco que nace como continuación a un primer disco y contenidos que datan del año 1982, de nombre ‘Letters Written’, adentrándose mas si cave en esas cartas enviadas al aire.

Letras sobre soledad, amor y espiritualidad tienen ese toque oscuro que le hace encantador. Valores universales, amor, soledad y emoción, que desbordan en las canciones, y la voz de Martyn Bates, que tiene en su poder de comunicación y de transmitir emociones su mayor virtud, cosa tan difícil de obtener en estos tiempos comerciales.

Es difícil destacar algunas canciones en concreto, cuando todo el disco con 15 canciones esta plagado de buenas muestras, incluyendo en el ultimo corte un tema semi oculto, pero personalmente destacaría ‘You Looking to Me for a Sign’, ‘Imagination Feels Like Poison’, ‘Over the Waters’, ‘Sky After All’, quizás también siendo estas las canciones con mas dramátismo del álbum.

Para los que no hayan escuchado antes a Martyn Bates decir que se puede comparar con voces tan expresivas como la de Antony & The Johnsons y la música de este trabajo sin ser la protagonista, nadando en sonoridades asonantes, calmadas y trágicas, podría decir que Trajedesaliva podría estar en las orquestaciones.

Como conclusión ‘Mystery Seas’ es una flor que se va abriendo a medida que se escucha regalando esos aromas sonoros, espirituales, pausados componiendo una colección de cartas que nuestro autor comparte en su viaje personal con nosotros.

Review 6

by ChAwech at (Heathen Harvest, February 15 2007)

‘Mystery Seas’ is the second part in the ‘Letters Written’ series and has been originally released on A-Scale Recordings back in 1995. Now Shayo released a completely remastered edition of this CD. Shayo’s very small discography (10 releases in catalogue) includes artists as Neither/Neither World, In Gowan Ring and Sally Doherty. Needless to say that expectations were pretty high when I first tuned this up.

I never though I would like organ music. But with such a magnificent voice as the one of Martyn Bates accompanying it, it’s hard not to like this release. Though I must say that the organ isn’t a highly diverse instrument, which can lead to finding the songs on this release more or less alike. But, if one listens to the songs more often, the complete beauty shines through. I especially like the second song, ‘Shorepoem’. It’s a bit sad, but has a little bit happy touch as well. All due to Martyn’s voice. It sounds playful at first, craving after that and melancholic as last. Per verse that is. The last verse has a longer third part, so that sounds more melancholic. Another notable track is ‘On the beach at Fontana’, which is pretty much a cappella. In this song you’re confronted with the full force of Martyn’s voice.

When listening to this album, I got reminded of Vangelis, who is also a master with electronic sounds. In some songs, the vocals actually remind me of some Depeche Mode songs, but I can’t figure out which ones. Yes, these are two really big names, but the comparison is completely justified. To throw some more names in; Martyn Bates is a part of Eyeless In Gaza and has worked with the magnificent Anne Clark, amongst others.

It’s like Shayo writes on their website: “It’s an intensive sound which would appeal to fans of traditional folk and electronic music fans all at once, which as to be some achievement.” Shayo is planning to re-release another CD of Martyn Bates later this year. That will be very pleasant again, I hope. I wonder how I could ever have missed this artist.

Review 7

by (kronic.it, 2006)

Membro storico degli Eyeless In Gaza. Questo è il suo progetto personale, che va avanti da anni e nell’attesa dell’uscita, imminente, del nuovo capitolo si ripresenta con la ristampa di un suo lavoro datato 1995. Ovviamente nell’album c’è anche la mano del compagno di band Peter Becker. Una cosa fatta in casa si potrebbe dire. E un suono che sa di misterico e lontano. Qualcosa che come le lettere, oggi cancellate dalle molto meno poetiche e personali e-mail, viene dal passato, con suoni ancestrali, l’album è tutto fondato sull’uso dell’organo, e una voce, quella di Martyn ovviamente, che ti catapulta immediatamente in una realtà fatta di uno strano etno-folk.

La sensazione che trasmette questo ‘Mystery Seas’ è quella di un paesaggio arcano, che vive lontano dall’uomo e nasconde dentro di se un passato che ci è stato spesso precluso. Una gran bella confezione con foto d’epoca e testi rende l’operazione di recupero decisamente interessante. Lontano dagli schemi, chiuso in uno scrigno dorato, il suono di Martyn Bates oltrepassa le epoche e le mode per ondeggiare tra le scogliere battute dalle onde di un mare per fortuna ancora incontaminato.

Review 8

by a Swiss daily newspaper (24Heures, 2006)

Martyn Bates, ex-Eyeless In Gaza, groupe méconnu mais séminal du début des années 80, aussi souvent cité (par Antony The Johnsons ou Devendra Bahnart, notamment) que rarement écouté de nos jours, fait partie de ses artistes qui creusent leur sillon avec régularité, loin des projecteurs mais suivis par un petit noyau de fans authentiques et dévoués. Le label genevois Shayo est de ceux-là, qui réédite cet album initialement sorti en 1995. Un peu folk, un peu pop, un peu «traditionnel» voire celtisant, un peu 80’s, Mystery Seas est une collection de chansons au plus pur sens du terme et ramenées à leur plus simple expression, puisque constituées de nappes de claviers minimalistes et de la voix de Martyn Bates – rien de plus. Proche par moments d’un Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) par ce timbre de voix vibrant et passionné, Bates semble déborder en permanence d’un enthousiasme mystique peu commun, quêtant l’élévation à grand renfort de vocalises extatiques et d’envolées séraphiques qui frôlent parfois l’emphase et lassent un peu sur la longueur d’un album, en dépit de la beauté formelle de ses compositions. A noter qu’une compilation de ses travaux en solo, intitulée Your Jewled Footsteps, sort ces jours-ci sur le label belge Sub Rosa.

Review 9

by (Musique-chroniques.ch, 2006)

Réédité chez Shayo, patrie musicale des artistes distillant une mélancolie douce et une tendance à la rêverie (le folk de In Gowan Ring, ou le post-rock de The Evpatoria Report), Mystery Seas est d’un format un peu à part. Emmené par une des têtes pensantes des cultissimes Eyeless in Gaza, cet album solo sorti initialement en 1995 ressuscite la pop éclatée et glacée façon This Mortal Coil, perdue quelque part à la fin des eighties. Il y ouvre aussi d’habiles perspectives (chanson folk traditionnelle, musique électronique, musique d’église).

Conçu comme un jeu entre les vocalises risquées de Martyn Bates (dont le trémolo n’a rien à envier à celui d’un jeune David Sylvian) et les strates tourbillonnantes de son orgue, Mystery Seas dépeint à la perfection les égarements nocturnes du marin sans boussole dans le brouillard. Passablement angoissant donc (telle l’ouverture «You, Looking to Me for a Sign»), toujours avec une sensation d’irréel. Quelques notes de flûte et de rares percussions viennent de temps à autres remuer le magma fiévreux issu du clavier, apportant un oxygène bienvenu. Martyn déclame ses vers avec ferveur et parfois un brin de théâtralisme, dans la plus pure tradition des auteurs romantiques post-punk de la fin des 80’s (tel Simon Huw Jones).

Opaque, dense, mais aussi intrigante, cette ¦uvre de Martyn Bates est une introduction parfaite à la discographie de Eyeless in Gaza. Même si le concept poésie + orgue devient un brin étouffant sur la longueur, Mystery Seas permet une (re)découverte d’un auteur qui a posé les jalons d’un genre. A noter le digipack soigné.

Review 10

by JJM (Lunar Hypnosis, May 11 2006)

Martyn Bates music career dates back to the late 70’s when he first began releasing music and when not performing solely he has collaborated with numerous people including song writer and singer Anne Clark and M.J. Harris of Napalm Death & Scorn. ‘Mystery Seas (Letters Written #2)’ was originally released in 1995 and is the second part of Martyn’s Letters Written series. This new version released by Shayo comes completely re-mastered as well the album contains new artwork and packaging.

Martyn’s sound is a little hard to pinpoint since frankly I’ve never heard anything else that sounds like this, but the recording consists of just Organ, occasional percussion, and Martyn’s excellent voice in the forefront. I don’t believe there’s any specific genre you could label this under other than possibly folk, but it’s certainly not the typical neo folk most of us are use to. What I really like about this recording is that even though it’s minimal and droning at times in its delivery it somehow manages to be quite extensive and really pulls the listener in and has you awestruck by every word coming out of Martyn’s mouth. Really quite an achievement if you ask me, but after listening to this album a few times I can honestly say Mr. Bates is quite the amazing song writer and one fantastic singer to boot. There’s also a strange poignant like quality to Martyn’s music as well and a strange echo effect is present thought out the album making you think the album was recorded in a cathedral or some other massive building. Really captivating material.

This recording will probably take a few spins before you’ll get into it, but once you do you’ll realize the treasure you now possess.

Review 11

by Narsheptha (Strangefortune.com, April 19 2006)

Another Martyn Bates neofolk masterpiece.

This is music best suited to immense stone cathedrals or pre-world war concert halls. The amazing echo effects couldn’t be reproduced in any other venue, though a good set of stereo headphones comes close.

There’s a haunting quality to all that Bates touches and his distinctive voice is so emotive as to be chilling, at times. At first, the droning organs were a little over the top, but once the ear settles into their peculiar register, the effect is overwhelmingly soothing. Some tracks add additional instrumentation, often beats reminiscent of Eyeless in Gaza.

The subject matter of this release, as you might guess, revolves around the sea, though rain and water in general are used to tie the whole thing together. There are even a few tracks that build melodic structure around old sea shanties and traditional tunes.

This album is highly recommended for fans of Twelve Thousand Days and Eyeless in Gaza, as well as Martyn Bates’ other solo stuff.

Review 12

by (Gothtronic)

Martyn Bates on a solo trip. He is known from collaborations with Anne Clark and Mick Harris, but especially from the band Eyeless in Gaza in which he operated together with Peter Becker. This album is produced together with him as well and originally released in 1995. This time around re-released by the Swiss Shayo label. Eyeless in Gaza stands for ethereal wave that resembles the sound made famous by the bands on the illustruous 4AD label.

Organ compositions with subtle extra instrumentation, such as bagpipes, violins, drums and guitar lay a wide-stretched base above which the dominant but phenomenal voice of Martyn Bates is free to experiment around and drags the listener into his own special world of sounds. The songs are all quiet in tempo, miles away from rockmusic but do have a sense of popmusic which makes this avantgarde take easy to digest. Arty pop with an ethereal wave feel is a pretty accurate description of the music of Eyeless in Gaza. Sometimes cinematographic of character and sometimes a combination of ambient and folk. This music addresses your subconscious and the appreciation of it is of course influenced by your mood. This new release has been given new artwork that is beautifully designed.

This will appeal to fans of band such as Cocteau Twins but also fans of the work of David Sylvian. Mystery Seas is a beautiful album, for which words fall short to describe it in a review. So I can best recommend you to have a listen for yourself. Martyn Bates is back, recently did concerts in Belgium, his first outside the UK since 1986, and has a new album out. As if this were not enough there is also a recent collaboration with the German ambient-drone project Troum as well as compilation albums of both Martyn Bates and Eyeless in Gaza. Beautiful times for the fan of the voice and music of Bates.

Review 13

by Stewart Mason (allmusic)

A sequel to Martyn Bates’ first solo album, 1982’s 10” EP Letters Written, Mystery Seas sounds like it was composed and performed on exactly the same keyboard as the original record. Like Letters Written, these are solo vocal and keyboard pieces with minimal (if any) percussion. Unlike the earlier EP, however, Bates opens up his arrangements enough to allow backing vocals, flute, saxophone, and other noises into the more spacious and less tense songs. Mystery Seas is a calming, pacific record, even on darker songs like the roiling opener “You, Looking to Me for a Sign” (which, interestingly, is built on a nearly identical keyboard pattern to Letters Written’s opening track, “Morning Singing”). It’s also interesting that for the first time in his solo career, Mystery Seas finds Bates’ on-again, off-again partner in Eyeless in Gaza, Peter Becker, taking part. Becker engineered the album, sings harmonies, and plays percussion on some tracks; the liner notes even go so far as to say “produced by Eyeless in Gaza.” Other than Becker’s limited instrumental role and lack of writing credits, Mystery Seas is an Eyeless in Gaza album in all but name.