Usually when Marsicans are featured on this site you know you’re in for a feel good track where by the end you’ll be smiling ear to ear from utter delight, however today it’s going to be slightly different. Today the band have dropped their happy-go-lucky demeanour and go with a more humbling emotive sound that will have you reaching for the tissues and blubbering like a baby in no time at all, I speak from experience.
Someone Else’s Touch is just an utterly beautiful affair in every way shape and form. Every somber note, tender melody and emotive vocal flourish is timed and placed to perfection to create something that is raw, honest and offers a dose of emotive poignancy to their sound. It’s a stark contrast to their usual sound but it’s the nuances and subtle beauty of this track that add to its beauty, I can easily see this being a fan favourite that will soundtrack a lot of late night crying sessions.
Speaking about their new release, bassist/vocalist Rob Brander said, “‘Someone Else’s Touch’ started its life a long time ago, and is the oldest song to make it onto our debut album. It’s also probably the most adventurous song on the record in terms of production. Like many of the things we write, it started life on an acoustic guitar, but at a time when we were trying to push ourselves a little further than six strings. So we borrowed a couple of old keyboards and started building loops and textures that sounded exciting to us. We got so far down a rabbit hole that the first time we played the song to our manager, he laughed. We knew it wasn’t the finished article, but were confident there was something special in the noise, so we committed it to a demo and continued to write new music.
“After a few years on a hard drive, some fresh perspective, and some crystallizing lyrical additions, we came back to that demo with renewed excitement. Much of the original version still exists within the song, but a magical evening at Rockfield Studios last summer saw the finishing touches to the musical landscaping. Our producer, Mickey Dale, and I came together after a few beers to become a kind of Bradford-Bon Iver for the evening, followed by the only tears of the album sessions as James delivered a beautiful vocal in a darkened corner of the legendary studio. It’s a moment, and an evening that we will always remember very fondly, and we are incredibly proud of ‘Someone Else’s Touch’ as a song, and a marker of our perseverance as a band.”