CMU Approved

Approved: Luke Marzec

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 2 May 2018

Luke Marzec’s debut EP, ‘Chances’, is a great example of how limitations can result in great art. Financial limitations meant that he could not afford software that would allow him to build big productions, while self-imposed time limitations further stopped the venture from running out of control.

“When I made this EP I was working a near minimum wage job managing my local pizza place in South East London”, he says. “I saved up money to buy recording equipment and just began playing around”.

He goes on: “I was instantly inspired and motivated by my ability to surprise myself with nice sounds and recordings – I neither knew how to work the equipment properly nor how to produce, and I didn’t have any expectations about what I would be making. I tried things out and chanced upon moments. When I found and captured something raw and beautiful, I would then craft these musical accidents into a piece of music, finding interesting ways to work the samples”.

He continues: “‘Chances’ is my first go at writing, recording and producing music on my own. It was very important for me to finish the work within a fixed timescale – before in my life I would lose so much work by striving for perfection and never attaining it. As I was new to producing and only had a demo version of the software, I had strict parameters – eight channels to record through, a fixed instrumentation and a fixed time scale. The process hence dictated parts of the product – the minimalism and simplicity, for example”.

Working so quickly, he also didn’t spot trends that were emerging in his lyrics. “On hearing [the EP] my dad said he knew I would be breaking up with my partner”, he says. “I didn’t even hear this in the music. But as most of it was improvised and unplanned, I guess the more unconscious parts of my heart spoke through – it seems I was expecting a big change in my life. Immediately after finishing the EP I broke up with my partner and we parted ways. The EP was almost an exorcism”.

That rapid pouring of himself into the songs on ‘Chances’ comes across instantly. It sounds like music that needed to be made.

You can catch Marzec live at The Great Escape on 18 May, and then at the Peckham Liberal Club on 23 May. Ahead of that, watch the video for ‘Will We Ever Carry On’ here:

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