Customer Reviews

To Travels & Trunks

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hey Marseilles is an excellent band out of Seattle. They have created a good following and have some serious potential! They are especially fabulous live if you can get out to see them. I highly recommend them!

I have never listened to a band that has so much depth. I have listened to the entity of this album at least 20 times and it never gets old. Calabasas is my favorite but Rio is a close second... Buy this... believe me these guys are GOOD.

I knew nothing about this band before attending a Toad The Wet Sprocket show in a downtown venue in Reno, Nevada in July 2010. I'm a big Toad fan, so it was: "Opening band? Hoy Marseilles!!! Who's dat, Winton's younger brother or something?" As I've seen a few shows over the past four decades, I've been burned by more than a few opening bands in my time, so I was less than overjoyed by this bunch of weird frenchmen that were on the bill with Toad.

We found the only grouping of seats (besides some tables on the first floor way, way in the back of the club behind the bar) upstairs and about 20 feet directly over the stage, and settled in for a hot summer's night in the high desert. We were looking straight down and the big stage and there were bass drums, and odd instruments scattered all about the stage. It wasn't hard to figure out that this band Hey Marseilles, was gonna be a bit different from normal.

The lights went down in the venue and Hey Marseilles appeared from the wings and I counted seven very young guys pick up guitars, trumpets, violins while standing near bass drums to thump upon with much gusto. The band performed this record from start to finish in order and by the second song my wife commented that: "Whoa, this band is pretty good" I replied: "This isn't a band, it's a small orchestra down there" And, then something very strange happened...I was getting into a band of young musicians from Seattle that were very different and very creative in their presentation and style than anybody else I had come across in decades. There is a French influence found in this music but, there is also a Latin/Mexican flavor to many parts of the music. At times two cellos are much akin to ELO but as most of the seven men on stage keep switching instruments to suit the music passages played the styles are changing and moving throughout the set.

After the band performed their encore to screaming crowd of Toad fans, I went downstairs and purchased this wonderful CD from the band's tee shirt table. I really enjoy the music of this band as they are so different from everybody else out there today. This is a group that is painting big pictures with the music they perform and this is fun, strange art for folks that think they have heard it all.
Hey Marseilles, is a brand new ballgame as a band of talented players that have much scope and imagination.
You haven't heard everything until you have heard this.
Four Stars!

Hey Marseilles broke in 2008, but their music is timeless. Fans of The Decemberists and Arcade Fire will find themselves right at home with the melodies and lyrics of Hey Marseilles. A truly inspirational seven-piece band with musical and lyrical layers that will have you listening to their debut album many times over. Forget Grunge... Hey Marseilles redefines Seattle music for a new generation.

"Of Trunks and Travels" opens with gentle piano (and accordion) solos in "Marseilles", a classical swirling beginning that is bookended nicely with the waltz in `Goodbye Versailles'.
The band simply blew me away when I saw them in Bellingham, and I am not surprised that they are quickly gaining popularity. The lyrics are smart and heartfelt, with strong instrumentals all the way through. While "Rio" is their single (you can download it for free on their website), songs like "Hold the Morning," "Calabasas," and "Cannonballs" are also lyrical delights. You can look up the lyrics online, but "we will sing to thunder, claps as the earth shakes, hug under a hurricane as we bypass the fiery lake" really sounds better sung and in context.
Upbeat and innovative, Hey Marseilles is a dedicated band paying real attention to the craftsmanship of their songs, and (on my third go-round of their CD this afternoon), "Of Trunks and Travels" is full of instrumental gems.