marc manning / everything is fine

Barry G Nichols
White_Line

WEBSITE

This edition of 250 showcases the work of guitarist, Marc Manning. Occupying territory somewhere between the delicate restraint of a typical 12k release, and with slight jazz infusions, not dissimilar to some of David Sylvian’s recent forays, this is an elegant work of textural strings, using reverb, multi-tracking, and a variety of other elements to build around. The album consists almost solely of guitar, and effects are used to form atmosphere and dynamics. Manning deploys a variety of compositional techniques, creating scrolls of delicacy, wispy tracts like “Not any time soon”, or “Not forever but for a long time”, with their dreamy, almost transcendental moods and shifts. For guitar experimentalists out there, don’t expect Fennesz’s influence here, as Manning uses the instrument in it’s purest form, unadulterated,and unaltered,a work of profound beauty, and stark simplicity. - white line / barry g nichols

Mike Olliver
Smallfish

WEBSITE

Oh, this is just a beauty of a release. Simple, lush, beautifully played guitar pieces with a lightly ambient touch which emphasises the nature of the room it was recorded in. Earthy, warm and fragile sounding there's an honesty here that will please your ears no end. I can't fault it really and have been enjoying it for some time. It's one of those things I keep going back to as it has a timeless quality which suits many different moods. Truly gorgeous and another outstanding release from Dragon's Eye. - mike oliver / smallfish

Mike Oliver
Smallfish

WEBSITE

A superb release from the Dragon's Eye label and one of the earlier CDr releases that I've been to get hold of. Heavy Lids provides an absolutely gorgeous voyage through processed and effected guitar sounds that is melodic, beautifully deep and intensely hypnotic. The melancholy nature of the played chords really works like a dream and the way the texture builds up with added layers of rumble and depth is marvellous and it keeps you engrossed for the whole duration. There's an almost James Blackshaw-esque feel to the sound and a free-flowing easiness to its nature. Essentially this is a brilliant release and comes highly recommended. - mike oliver / smallfish

Byron Coley
The Wire

For the second instalment of Long Distance, Yann Novak teams up with guitarest Marc Manning (aka Heavy Lids) for a sequence of long shimmers on guitar and laptop. It’s not easy to resist reference to Fripp and Eno’s startling 70s collaborations, but there is a stillness here that defies easy comparison. The knob twiddling is slow and lugurious, the blend of insturments almost seamless. The drones seem to float in the air, shifting angles so we can observe them more easily. Beautiful stuff. - the wire

Marc Manning, "The Woods" from Air in the Trees (Tract Records)
July 16th, 2007 [12:35PM] Posted by: CHELSEA MORRISEY
The haunting high range of Portland-based musician Marc Manning's vocals, coupled with the rustic production quality of his most recent EP, Air in the Trees, gives the record a feeling of polite distance and mild inaccessibility. The music is thread together in a way that lets it exist all around you and nowhere around you at the same time, like a hovering blanket. Track four, "The Woods," is a perfect example of Manning's blanket of sound, with its hollow, subtle whistling behind the distorted guitar and bleeding vocals. Beyond being incredibly beautiful, this song seems to emerge from the organic spaces of the Northwest. If I believed in heart strings, I would tell you that Manning is pulling every one of them, collectively, like an orchestra. Instead, I will just say that this song makes me want to walk alone until I stop crying. About what, you ask? I'm not sure.
http://localcut.wweek.com/2007/07/16/marc-manning-the-woods-from-air-in-the-trees-tract-records/ - willamett week