Official press release:
Berklee-trained guitarist and modern progressive/world fusion pioneer Felix Martin first teased the release of his upcoming 15-track full-length album late last year. Today, Martin is pleased to reveal the title for his new album, Mechanical Nations, as well as the official art, track listing and pre-orders.
Mechanical Nations will hit stores on February 24, 2017 and is available for pre-order now via iTunes, Amazon and Felix Martin’s webstore.
Mechanical Nations track listing:
1. “Flashback”
2. “Carnatt”
3. “Eight Moon Headdress”
4. “Nomadic Tree”
5. “Da House Cat”
6. “Cosmo Basket”
7. “Bom”
8. “Bom Continues”
9. “Cardboard Roofs”
10. “Santos” (feat. Angel Vivaldi)
11. “Barquisimetal”
12. “King Zartman”
13. “Four Handed Giant”
14. “Canaima”
15. “Bridge Clock Disparity”
Mechanical Nations was self-produced by Felix Martin and mixed with Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me).
Felix Martin details the motivations behind the musical content and culturally-inspired artwork for Mechanical Nations (actually hand-painted by his mother, Soraya Martin):
“The artwork represents South America “Mechanized”. Many of the songs on this album are inspired by South American traditional melodies and inspired by locations that were then “Mechanized” so to say, in a progressive format. “Barquisimetal” is a good example – it is a place in Venezuela that inspired melodies and the landscape brought out that creative spark. Many South American countries, especially places like Venezuela, are heavily industrial-based economies. The hard work of the people and how it shaped the countries themselves seemed fitting for a progressive rock record. In the background of the artwork, you can see “Petare”, it’s one of the poorest neighborhoods in Caracas, but one of my favorite places in my home country Venezuela.”
Martin continues:
“The overall goal with this album was to discover unique and new sounds from the electric guitar and to make an instrumental rock/metal record with a Latin spark that sounds band-based. The music ended up being more melodic and accessible for a broader audience (from the metal, to pop, to jazz etc). I also challenged myself to not use distortion, play solos, or even lead-solo melodies, as I wanted to focus on what makes me different on the guitar and put the whole band under the spotlight.”
Stay tuned for more coming soon from Felix Martin leading up to the release of Mechanical Nations.