Julia Marcell is a Polish singer/songwriter and pianist who is set to release her fifth studio album, Skull Echo. This is not a record that should be played as background noise; it is art.

Released: 8th May 2020

Label: Long Branch Records

Format: CD / Digital

In introducing her new album, Julia Marcell explains that Skull Echo is a record about loneliness but also about being trapped in your own views and that these hinder our abilities to communicate with other people. It is about the way we imagine the world to be. An image that is created by our own experiences and the information we gather and that lead us to live a certain way.

The first song on the album is Cerebral Bliss, an edgy and fresh song. The second song, Nostalgic is a great pop song that could be played on international radio stations, while Infinity Halt is a catchy dance song that Julia also directed a video clip for. From the start, we notice that this record cannot be labelled with one genre, and it is unnecessary to do so. The album speaks for itself with its mostly electronic, vast melodious soundscape that is accentuated with Julia Marcell’s beautiful voice. Be it the song Mother, or the last song of the album, Skull Echo, every song is an adventure of sounds.

Julia states that Skull Echo is “a story of longing for another person”. It is like life, a journey with emotional ups and downs. The lyrics are universal, and everyone who was ever lonely and longing for another person, or unsure how to navigate life, yearning for a new start, will be able to relate to Julia Marcell’s words. Skull Echo is not a record that should be played as background noise; it is music – art really, that demands and deserves the listener’s full attention.

Whilst Julia worked on this record, she was inspired to write a screenplay about the topics of the songs. It is currently in development and will go by the title Skull Echo.

If you are a fan of Bush or Björk then Julia Marcell’s Skull Echo is certainly an album that could be for you.

Skull Echo was recorded in Berlin and produced by Michael Haves, who also played guitar (electric, acoustic, and bass), as well as percussion, synth, and kazoo. The songs were all written by Julia Marcell herself, and apart from singing and playing the piano, synth, and rhodes, she also played the electric guitar. Julia and Michael Haves did the programming of Skull Echo together. Thomas Fietz was responsible for the drums and percussion, and Thomsen Slowey Merkel played bass guitar.

Watch the video for Infinity Halt below.

Julia Marcell: Website / Facebook / YouTube