Month: May 2026

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Myrrhman

“Myrrhman”, the opening song, is a prime example; a few flecks of viola and guitar held in place by the ambience of the room, delicate as a dragonfly wing. There are strokes of piano and double bass and Lee Harris — always an impressively sensitive and imaginative drummer — provides specks of brushed snare and cymbal. Above, no, amongst it lies Mark Hollis’ unique and fragile voice. The sense is obscured, but his yearning tone is supremely articulate, seemingly aching for peace, redemption, and an end to unknowingness.”- Melody Maker reviews Laughing Stock, 1991

“But the reason for putting [Myrrhman] up the front is, if you are looking in classical terms at things, you know, when the thing starts, it doesn’t necessarily have to attack you. What it does is, for the first few minutes, it’s there just to create a mood from which it then develops […] I think that track is the most eclectic track for me.” – Mark Hollis talking about Laughing Stock for 19 minutes, 1991

Myrrhman certainly does create a mood; and more than that, it creates other realities – maybe you are in a small boat floating on the dark ocean of a distant planet with unfamiliar constellations; or maybe you are the invisible observer in an attic room furnished with just a kitchen chair and a noose.

Where have you gone? Come back and listen to this.

Myrrhman insists on the listener’s undivided attention. Like, really – pay attention. This song is quiet, sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘background’. It is intense. I adore this piece of music, but it is still NFC: Not For Company. That is, I love it but I wouldn’t put it on my Friday Work Drinks playlist, not even in the ‘chill’ section.

The first track on the last Talk Talk album, it winks knowingly to a past life; as the title of the first Talk Talk single and as the first line of The ReAction’s I Keep On Telling You, a twin with the last line of Myrrhman. First and last. Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end, the beginning of the end.

 

Myrrhmanhttps://youtu.be/ckNZljhwLfs?si=LP6l2Lim5GhMN0t_

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Happiness Is Easy

“The simplicity of the songs and Mark Hollis’s voice make this album just incredible. The first tune, Happiness Is Easy, says it all – nothing but a bass, a snare and a weird chord. That’s Talk Talk all over, great songs and simplicity with a twist.” – Richard Wright (Pink Floyd) – Spirit of Talk Talk (book)

If Spirit of Eden created the illusion of a bunch of musicians casually jamming together in a room, then perhaps the illusion created by The Colour of Spring – and Happiness is Easy in particular – is of seeming simplicity, born of great complexity.

Listen closely to Happiness is Easy. There’s a lot of space in it, but then again there’s such a lot going on, so many moving parts, so many scraps of sound – random piano notes, the expected churchy organ, a glorious trumpet, a faraway Hollis hollering in witness, sprinkles of percussion; a bass, a snare and a weird chord. The space is the trick, it’s the thing that gives that illusion of simplicity.

And the children’s choir. What could be more simple and beautiful? They don’t sound pious or pompous or ironic, just young school kids singing, mostly in tune and very very English. It’s not a gimmick. It’s not cheesy, although in the wrong hands it could easily be so. It’s perfect for the song.

Which is also not ironic or cheesy. Given the writer’s propensity for sarcasm in his daily life, you could read the song title as sarcastic, but I don’t hear any sarcasm at all in the vocal. Happiness IS easy. It’s as easy as breathing in, breathing out. Just ask Thich Nhat Hanh.

I have said before that Mark Hollis meets my definition of a Buddha (note: not a saint), mostly due to his penchant for pushing musician’s buttons to find their true sound. TCOS is full of Buddhist concepts, as written by a silence-loving vegetarian minimalist. Happiness is Easy in particular. It’s not the only reason I love this song, but it’s one of many.

“I can’t think of any other way of being able to sing a lyric and actually sing it and feel it unless I believe in what I’m singing about […] I’m not saying all lyrics have to be about religion but, in a way, there must be that kind of thing in it.“ – Mark Hollis, Melody Maker, September 1991

Happiness Is Easyhttps://youtu.be/tpGkiZ7FGmg?si=hJc1HcRpp8nBlcOh

Thich Nhat Hanh on happiness https://youtu.be/jAhtNotxqTk?si=ve2J5AEQ8uxQnD8x

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ARB Section 1

“He went back to the music that Hollis and Air had created for Peacock, and discovered that it worked well with the feel of the second season of “Boss”. Like Cillian Murphy’s character, Kelsey Grammer’s Chicago mayor Tom Kane is dealing with a mental disorder that he must keep hidden.

Reitzell said that “ARB Section 1” is only part of the music that Hollis created for Peacock; he hopes to use the rest at some point.”
Jenn Pelly for Pitchfork, August, 2012

The sub-heading for that Pitchfork article is “First new music from the elusive genius in 14 years”. It’s a decent sized write-up for a piece of music that is barely a minute and a half long. By Mark Hollis’s own standard, you can’t boil an egg to it. You can’t boil an egg to New Grass, either. Think about that. But ARB Section 1 isn’t ridiculously brief due to any Hollis contrariness. It’s just that it is a tiny taste of something bigger.

People – well, Hollis fans anyway – LOST THEIR MINDS when this first appeared in the world. Reading old interviews with the fascinating Brian Reitzell is a reminder that fans were missing Mark Hollis long before 2019.

Brian and Mark became friends in the 2000’s, the sort of friends who could talk together for hours about books, movies and (sometimes) music. Sounds magical doesn’t it. Maybe it was, a bit, ‘cause that friendship created a movie score. It never made it to the screen. Not because it wasn’t good enough for the movie. I like to believe it was because it was too good for the movie. I mean, Cillian Murphy fans aside, have you ever seen or even heard of Peacock?

Despite that last sentence from Pitchfork, I doubt ‘the rest of it’ will ever see the light of day (now).

ARB Section 1 is a sliver of music written to be both heard and watched. I haven’t seen it, only heard it – it’s hard to judge from half of the intended experience.

I have however read that ARB Section 1 was played over a scene where the character is in a confused psychological state, and apparently the music perfectly expressed that vibe. It doesn’t have lyrics but if it did have maybe they would go something like this:
’Breathe on me, eclipse my mind. It’s in some kind of disarray.’

ARB Section 1 https://youtu.be/pHIgRNFuYsk?si=DVYQoeLu8f7haOiT