• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Vinyl Chapters

Vinyl Chapters

The Stories Behind The Music

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • News
  • Submit
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Cart
Home » articles » Marc-E: Catharsis – Album Review

Marc-E: Catharsis – Album Review

October 21, 2021 by Jamie Parmenter

Marc-E

Marc-E leans on twisting musical stories of psychedelic electronica on his new album, Catharsis.

Vancouver-based Psybient/Downtempo musician Marc-E shows off his well-thought-out song structures on his new album, Catharsis. Using both live and electronic techniques to create vibrant musical words of nature, menace, brightness and wonder, Marc-E builds music that is easy to get lost in. 

Acceptance starts the record in fine, psychedelic fashion, as meditative bells chime and a dreamy atmosphere is built up around settled piano and hand drums. Electronic beats then slowly slide in as bass fills out the sound and thickens the atmosphere. It shows just how well Marc-E can construct songs and points to what to expect on the following tracks. 

Marc-E - Catharsis

After the brief, distorted malice and running water sounds of Virtue of Isolation, we’re then thrown into the twisting, electronic menace of Seed of Faith. It rises and falls amongst breaks and beats as a sitar-esque sound and hauntingly subtle choir-like background vocals build an atmosphere that is intriguing and hard to resist. 

Marc-E’s talent in structuring songs is clear to see throughout the record, managing to build stories without vocals through the music alone. Dreamtime is a testament to this, feeling like you’re lost in the Australian outback or a dark rainforest with danger all around, before settling into an electronic groove of monotonous flows and elongated synths. Surrendering to Now once again relies on nature sounds to build a flow, but this time in a more ethereal, pleasant manner that feels euphoric and sublime. It gently opens the heart and reveals a beauty that the album needs amidst all the dark (yet wonderful) escapades previously experienced. The record ends on Full Armour, bringing us back to a literal stormy atmosphere that this time clears away to sunny flows and electrifying guitar work to round off the record in an interesting fashion.

Catharsis by Marc-E is an ever-evolving journey through psychedelic electronica, a journey where you never know what to expect around the corner. Despite a couple of areas where some might feel the order of the songs could be amended to help the flow a little more, the interesting mix of changes between dark moments and bright revitalisations shows a songwriter that knows how to manipulate music in great ways and build interesting stories.

Score: 3.5/5

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Review

About Jamie Parmenter

Editor and Founder of Vinyl Chapters.
Always bothering people to tell a story about a record in their vinyl collection.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required

Recent Posts

DEAD STAR TALK: Solid State Chemicals – Album Review

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review

Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review

Footer

Navigation

Home

About

Reviews

Features

News

Submit

Contact Us

Shop

Search

Recent Posts

  • Linkin Park: From Zero – Album Review
  • DEAD STAR TALK: Solid State Chemicals – Album Review
  • Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review
  • Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review
  • Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review

Social Media

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Affiliate Disclosure

Vinyl Chapters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In doing so, this helps us continue providing free content. It does not increase the price for you in any way.

Copyright © 2025 Vinyl Chapters | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Editorial Team