Laugh, I nearly bought one : The Marrissa Marchant tapes...

In december, a post was made on the ILE board, regarding the website of Marissa Marchant. The
basic plot was that here was a singer/songwriter with a vastly inflated sense of her own worth and talent,
who felt that as her music was a precious thing, it was not for mass consumption by people with tattoos
and/or porn collections, and/or Tori Amos and/or especially, Nora Jones fans. The scenario described the music business
and industry not as parasitic leeches feeding off the talent of those they choose to promote, but as ignorant of all those
with real talent, good looks and height(!), favouring those with Money and Fame only.

All this is nothing breathtaking, you can find a fair percentage of musicians/singers/actors past and present who have a
similar inflated opinion. The difference here is that their publicity is usually handled by managers and press agents who shield these
unattractive facets of the creative personality from the public at large.

The biggest impact she has made has been due to pricing her albums at $1000 each, or the box set for $2500. Or a single for $100. Also, she has a habit
of hitting sites that allow nline reviews, like Amazon, and comparing Nora Jones' album and talents, in disparaging terms, to her own. It seems at first glance to
be very amusing. It actually shows in the longer term to be quite frightening. Many music industry types have horror stories of various 'legendary' performers who they wish they had never worked with. These "Absolute Nightmares" promised so much, delivered much, but the stress made it all not so worthwile.
It's a really bad idea to show yourself as one of these people before you start.

I had a brief encounter with Marissa via her messageboard on her website. Reading the lines and between them, the frustrations of
the years striving to learn and improve her craft had left a few mental scars. Now, I am not in any position to diagnose schitzophrenia,
much less spell it. But having taken singing lessons for years, and paid enough in lesson fees to pay for the car her singing teacher now
drives, and more than striving to impress family members with her talents, you wonder what it was all for at the end. That kind of intense
tuition can remove the simple pleasure of creation for its own sake. And if you can't please yourself, and if pleasing an audience is not
enough, what choices do you have?

1) Please the good old Music Industry
Get signed, put youself at the mercy of a creative team who will change everything you are, appeal (or try to) to a mass demographic,
recommend clothes, tatoos, songs, producers, and when it all fails (or does not succeed enough, or long enough), drop you like a stone and
go on to the next one.

2) Please a select audience.
Appeal to a very selective demographic. Discerning musical gourmands with lots of money who will sponsor you and keep you (Heck, it worked for
Tsaikovski), and enter into a very personal relationship with your fans. Until they also get bored or offended by some imagined or actual slight
and withdraw their lifelines)

3) Please yourself.
Play lots of gigs, for little or no profit. Write songs ditto. And maybe eventually work up a word-of-mouth appreciation for your talents.

Of course, there are no guarantees of success. 99% of musicians will eventually return or continue with the jobs they counted upon as supportive, and
98% of those will feel they haven't even stretched their talents in that regard anyway.

The Songs:

So where does that leave Marissa? The fabled $1000 album, "Thales of Miletus" does not exist. It has not been made yet. What remains, as evinced on her website
and the MP3Search websites, are a collection of sparse recordings of variable audio quality. What does show through is an undoubted ability. In a good and proper
studio setting, there are songs that would shine on album, and on "NeverMind" and "For You", songs immediate enough to be hit singles. There are a fair number of instrumental tracks,
although whether these are purely awaiting lead vocals over them, or are meant as guitar and/or piano pieces is not clear. Some songs cut off early, some are trailed by long silences,
some have small dropouts of sound, and one is mixed so badly that the piano and voice are a 1/2 a semitone apart.

"Days Go By" (piano /vocal) seems to be a reflection of sadness in giving up. Tempting to describe it as autobiographical.
"Dont Make me Realise" (guitar/vocal) about the possible end of a relationship, cuts off early.
"El Sol Que Tu Eres" (Guitar/Vocal/Male Vocal) is a slow duet in spanish.
"Emu" (piano/vocal) is the offending outoftune track. It is also hard to know what it is about. But it is a tune that can insist upon not leaving your head.
"Finding That Girl" (guitar/vocal) needs more embellishment and/or a better recording.
"For You" (guitar/vocal) is one of the better songs, immediately.
"Green Tea" (piano/vocal) is in the spooky/ethereal category. This would be quite stunning as a solo piece on stage. 30 seconds of silence at the end.
"Guitar Slash Gameplayer" (piano/drum/vocal) cuts off way too early. Good title though.
"Here in the Night" (guitar/voices) is quite pleasant.
"Light side of the moon" (guitar/drums/vocals) is a good song that cuts off, but has the best allround sound quality.
"Loving Man" (piano) is only piano in the left channel. Must be missing a vocal.
"Mei Fang Wu" (guitar) works well as a guitar instrumental.
"Napoleon's Complex" (piano) is a great title given the circumstances, but no its instrumental, Right channel only.
"NeverMind" (Guitar/Vocal) is the out and out 'hit' track. It could be a track from a 'Chick Flick'. It probably should be. It is 2 mins 30 seconds, exactly the right length, good sound quality,
great imagery, and shows overt signs of the talent so described. This would be the 'breakthrough' track.
"Albenia" (piano) I found as a 16 minute track, and wondered if this was where unbridled creativity was unleashed. But no, its only a 5 min piano only track.

It can be hard not to compare a voice to one similar. Tori Amos springs to mind. (But funnily enough, not Kate Bush). Tori Amos being a gifted piano player from the age of two,
who in a recent interview expounded a lot of opinions, similar to Marissa, regarding to how talent is ignored in the music industry, in favour of youth, image and (lack of) clothing.

Conclusion:

So will she succeed in her mission? It's hard to understand what her mission is. Bitching about Tori Amos, Beck, Nora Jones, and whoever, won't endear you to anybody. It's not music as a soundtrack to a punch-up.
"Blur versus Oasis" works as fans of both enjoy a bit of infighting. Nora vs Marissa would not, as fans of Nora would not take to having their taste insulted so comprehensively by someone they might actually also enjoy.
And you certainly cannot choose your audience. They choose you. All music is prostitution. It's up to you how much you give of yourself. Giving nothing gets you nothing. Giving everything leaves you with nothing,

I would not be surprised if she made it eventually. The only way the music industry will allow you creative reins is to have them compehensively in your hand already. Making your own mistakes first, is priceless.
Allowing someone else to help you avoid making any at all will also avoid making any impression. She has stated that she can do any kind of music. So be it. The piano/classical guitar angle is covered. Now to show
all your talent. And if it all comes to nothing, walk away and regret nothing. It's their loss, if you can say it was not yours.