ABOUT ME

I make indie electronic music which is inspired by the classic pop of the 1980s, but reinterpreted as something new and unique. With a few exceptions, I pretty much do everything you hear and see of Space March, myself. I’m the writer, performer, producer, engineer, designer, director and record company, all wrapped-up in one! My objective is to create a sustainable music production process which allows me to continue releasing records.

I’ve lived my life in reverse. Many musicians work hard at their music careers when they are young and then switch to a career in the music business when they reach middle-age. I did the opposite. I landed a job with Sony Music when I was young, and after 18 years, decided to get serious with Space March!

Synthpop

I was drawn to 80s British Synthpop from a very early age. I liked the accomplished songwriting, the mood and the sound of sequenced synthesizers. I even liked the minimalist album artwork by designers such as Mark Farrow (Pet Shop Boys) and Peter Saville (New Order, OMD) who inspired me to study design.

Over the years, my music tastes broadened to encompass indie pop/rock, Britpop, electronica, film scores, and more recently, Synthwave. To some extent, you can hear all those elements in my music, but I actually don’t try and conform to any particular genre – it just comes out the way it does! I like music to have a strongly defined melodic form and rhythmic structure. I think of my music as a series of interconnected patterns, layered with words and ambient textures, capable of inducing a strong emotional response when combined in the right way.

History

I’ve suffered from the condition ME/CFS since the age of 17. This often makes life challenging, and has kept me from touring, but at the same time is one of the main drivers of my songwriting.

I released my first Space March album in 2003, having previously released a techno album Suffocating Sally under the name Chiba in the mid-90s, and two albums through a synthpop duo called ElectroSquad in the late 90s. I continue to release new music to a very niche but passionate fanbase.

Highlights

Career highlights include working with Mark Saunders (Erasure, A-ha, The Cure, David Byrne) on the Monumental album – one of the aforementioned exceptions – and being ranked #1 by a critic in the Chicago Reader and The Village Voice annual “best of” music critics poll for my debut album.