Spotlight On... Marcus Engwall

On our first day back in the office after the Christmas break, our spirits were kept high by the arrival of Marcus Engwall’s music in our inbox. A Swedish-Indonesian singer-songwriter living in Glasgow, Engwall sings with the most beautiful effervescent falsetto, and brings a lightness of touch to his music that’s hard to teach. His debut EP Glacial Pace, set for release on 21 February, is all soft and hazy around the edges, feeling both fresh and nostalgic.

For a taster of what to expect, the EP's lead single Dear Woman Love is out today, with a stunning accompanying music video shot in 16mm that you can watch in the below player (click here if it's not displaying correctly). We catch up with Engwall to find out more about him, his music, and what his plans are for the rest of the year.

First thing's first, what brought you to Scotland? And how long have you been living and creating in Glasgow?
I am, like so many others, a passenger of the London-Glasgow pipeline. I moved up here at the end of 2019. London was my first home away from home; I studied music, played in bands and lived in a warehouse. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything but it wasn’t sustainable for many reasons... the big city ate me up! I met my girlfriend around that time and we both decided we wanted to live somewhere else. We knew some people here and kind of blindly made the leap. What I saw in Glasgow was that there was a spirit of kindness, generosity and a way of life that really appealed to me – it seemed to be a place where art could flourish. Best decision ever really.

Who/what are some of the inspirations you carry through your music?
When I moved to London, someone had just left a piano in the unit I moved into and I took it upon myself to learn. I was heavily into Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys at the time and I really tried to absorb everything he'd done. His sense of melody and the way he voices his chords will always be a part of everything I do.

In terms of singing, I’ve always been inspired by Doo-wop groups, like The Flamingos and the more 70s era stuff like The Chi-Lites – I find singing in falsetto to be really freeing, and the vulnerability that comes with that appeals to me. 

I think for this record specifically, which I recorded at home, I was listening to a lot of homemade albums for reference: Hosono House by Haruomi Hosono and On Your Own Love Again by Jessica Pratt come to mind. Emitt Rhodes, Wings and Mac DeMarco were on pretty heavy rotation too.

There’s a sublime lightness of touch across Glacial Pace that really makes it stand out. It feels considered, not rushed. You say the record “details reinventing oneself and embracing slowness.” Can you tell us more about this idea that forms the backbone of the record? 
Oh, thank you. I think that with the amount of oversaturation in music at the moment, I feel it's almost one's duty to really consider everything you're putting out. The criteria for this record became, if I'm able to live with the melodies in my head for a long time, others will as well.

The title of the record, Glacial Pace, used to be a joke that me and my friend had that my pace is glacial, the icebergs will all melt before I put any music out. I suppose there's a balance to be found between taking your time and letting the songs live outside of you.

I think moving here was an act of reinvention. I had broken up my old band, reevaluated certain friendships in my life and recognised that I was putting so much pressure on myself that I burned out. I think that by taking the pressure off and embracing slowness, like taking your time and doing it for the sake of fun and what feels good – having a good time, essentially – counterintuitively meant that I was just producing more material and writing songs more effortlessly and just keeping the flow to the source open. 

Image: Marcus Engwall by Clara Loop

And can you tell us a bit more about the lead single, Dear Woman Love? Who/what inspired it?
Dear Woman Love is essentially about a friendship breakup, exploring tumultuousness and conflict. Sometimes you have to move on even though you might not have a closeness like that again.

Alongside the single, you’re releasing a beautiful accompanying music video shot on 16mm film, directed by Joseph Campbell and Oscar Oldershaw. Shot across several locations, can you tell us a bit more about the video and what inspired it?
Joe and Oscar – friends of mine from London – are definitely to be given all the credit in terms of the vision. I think it was less of like, 'Oh, here's a concept for a video' and more like, the three of us would listen to the song quite intensely, and have different fragments of visual ideas, trying to match the spirit of the song. With 16mm film, I love that what you put in is not quite what comes out. With all the fluctuations inherent to the medium, it's like looking back at a distant hazy, memory.

The band – Alan, Libby and Gaspard – were such champs for persevering through the January cold to film it.

You’ll be celebrating the EP’s release later in the month with a launch show at The Old Hairdresser’s. Can you tell us more about the show and what people can expect?
Since recording the EP I've been writing a lot and we've already started to work on the next record in the studio. So the set will be half this EP and half new songs. I'm really grateful to have assembled a really solid live band in the last couple of years (Alan Anderson, Gaspard Casanova and Jamie-Scott Dyson) and it just feels really fun to play these songs live, I can't wait to share them with everyone. 

Kate (Babyshark) and Simone (S. Antigone) are really talented friends of mine and it just kind of felt natural to invite them to play. It'll be a family affair. All killer, no filler.

Finally, what’s next once the EP is out? And what does the rest of the year look like for you?
The band and I have been recording the next record at La Chunky Studio with Gaspard, who plays drums in the live band, and will continue doing so throughout this year. I feel like a lot of the pieces have fallen into place in order to allow me to make music in the way I want to. All I want to do this year is to follow that momentum, play more shows and spread the gospel.

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Dear Woman Love is out now; Glacial Pace is released on 21 Feb
Marcus Engwall plays The Old Hairdresser's, Glasgow, 22 Feb with support from S.Antigone and Babyshark

Follow Marcus Engwall on Instagram at @marcusengwall__