Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Marks. Them and their team share their story with us below:
New York-based artist Nick Marks is a composer and producer of sonic narratives that traverse musical boundaries. Described as ‘cinematic jazz electronica, infused with hip-hop breaks and Latin flavors’, Marks’ music is laced with ear-candy hooks, lush jazz harmonies, expansive arrangements, and hard-hitting beats. His ethos is to provide listeners with a soundtrack to their day that helps them feel energized and at ease, facilitating deep emotional connections to moments of everyday life.
Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, he grew up among that city’s innovative musical scene, absorbing the cross-pollination of jazz, neo-soul, R&B, funk, Latin, and hip-hop influences. Marks is a conservatory-trained jazz and classical pianist, and self-taught composer. His training is combined with a deep passion and study of film scores, synthesizers, and electronic instruments. This has informed a sound that is wholly his own, designed to stimulate the soul, body, and mind. Since moving to New York in 2016, Marks has firmly established himself as an in-demand film and tv composer, producer, and musical director. In addition to his scoring, Marks is a frequent collaborator and arranger for various cross-genre artists on the tipping points of jazz, neo-soul, R&B, and neoclassical.
Marks’ music resonates across the full spectrum of emotions, a reflection of his view that life is multi-faceted with layers of beauty and complexity. His mission is for his music to have resonance and impact; that it empowers, encourages, and inspires listeners in pursuit of their own truth, and to unleash their inner power.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Any worthwhile pursuit will be filled with obstacles and hurdles along the way. The learning process is filled with learning checkpoints, new levels, and anyone with ambition and drive to be the best they can must rise to the occasion with these. For me, a strong pedagogy is necessary for learning fundamental skills, however, it’s important to understand the artistic process is not necessarily linear. One cannot always track progress in small measurements, but over a longer arc of time. I think measuring artistic growth is often better done ‘in hindsight’, in other words, arriving at a certain point in a process or journey after a period of time, then being able to look back and see how far you’ve come. I think struggles feed into the creative process and an artists work. Having limited resources forces you to be creative with what you have. Also, in my case, moving countries was a whole process. It wasn’t something that I was asked or invited to do; I undertook this on my own accord in pursuit of my dreams.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a composer specializing in writing scores for film and television. As a natural follow-through, I’ve also worked on commercials, multimedia projects, web-isodes, podcasts, and sonic branding.
People often ask what my style or genre is. The simple, but not popular, answer: all of it. For me, music is a language. While each style has certain idiosyncrasies that make it what it is, the fundamental rules underpinning what makes something good can transfer across to other genres with just a few tweaks.
My favourite composers have all been pioneers of melding elements from different styles into cohesive, through-composed sonic adventures. This is one of the reasons I’m so drawn to film composers. I love the improvisational and spiritual aspects of Jazz. I love the jilted / swag / unquantized approach to beat making enshrined in hip-hop, soul and RnB. I love the expansive textures, colours and harmonies of an orchestra as demonstrated by impressionist and classical composers.
My deep studies across this diverse range of genres arms me with the weapons to be able to get inside a piece, understand it’s defining characteristics, take a seemingly disparate set of tools/resources and elements and bring those together into new, cohesive sonic narratives.
I’ve written feature film scores, recorded with international orchestras, toured across the world, collaborated with some of New York’s leading session artists on genre-bending projects. Often in these projects, I’ve been a ‘behind-the-scenes’ guy, writing a ton of music and bringing what I have for the greater collective.
The work I am most proud of: my upcoming releases under my own name for 2023, beginning with my debut single, “RIDE THE DRAGON”, available on all streaming platforms and YouTube (with a music video) on 2.24.23.
What were you like growing up?
I was obsessed with films, music, stories and generally being creative. I was always in my own world listening to some of my favorite music, from Jazz artists like Coltrane, Miles, Monk, Bud Powell, Lennie Tristano, to aritsts/bands like Erykah Badu, Jamiroquai, Fatboy Slim, Gorillaz, Moby, Flying Lotus, and film composers John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Ennio Morricone. This music transported me to another place; I would envision myself in a film scene, and even made my own home movies to which I would cut music to create videos.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nicholasmarksmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nmarksmusik/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nickmarkscomposer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoT6gTFMLp6XcBOBzRT-xOw
- SoundCloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/24oDE0vaH0JH83VNAQ7pGL?si=ol-0dUBFTemMD48uST6LmQ
- Other: https://hypeddit.com/nickmarks/ridethedragon
Image Credits
Lauren Desberg
Ogata Photography
