Here’s the sound of the summer; Marianne is upbeat folk from singer-songwriter Karl Bray. Featuring guitar from Paul Phillips, former member of Pooh Sticks, Marianne opens with a light strum before the song settles into its swaying rhythms. With a catchy vocal tune and rising, languid solo halfway through, Marianne has a touch of a cosmic, acid trip, lifting the folk sounds like the vivid, coloured smoke drifting into the sky in the visual. The accompanying video, which includes Bray’s brother and drummer Dazza, was filmed by Mercury-nominated Ian Parton of The Go! Team. Like the song, the video has a light, expansive feel, tripping to the music.
Bray was previously the founding member of the band Kovak, the first unsigned act to be playlisted on BBC Radio 2. He has shared stages with the likes of Karl Blau, The Levellers and Hard-Fi. Bray’s songs have appeared on Radio Caroline, Soho Radio and BBC Radio 6 Music, and a live performance of his single San Francisco featured on Bob Harris’s Under The Apple Tree Sessions. Marianne is released almost a year after previous single, Coastlines of the World, and appears as Bray is recording his second solo album in his hometown of Brighton. Enjoy.
