The Globeflower Masters Vol. 2 is the slightly edgier and more grown-up sequel to Mark and Glenn's 2021 debut album. For this excursion, the Brighton-based duo wanted to lean a little further into their European film soundtrack influences, with inspiration mined from the works of Stefano Torossi, David Shire, and Roger Webb. This expansion of their sound builds upon the rich tapestry of cinematic funk à la David Axelrod, Serge Gainsbourg and Morricone that fashioned Vol. 1.

The Deluxe Edition of the album features five new tracks, comprising two new original recordings, a piano solo version of the closing track from the original album, and two remixes from Project Gemini and Andres y Xavi.

‘Shaded By Your Side’ takes things right back to the moody, dark and Axelrod-inflected sound of their first album. Much of this track was played in single takes to try and retain as much of the urgency and spontaneity as possible. 

‘Return to Salvador’ is described by the duo as if “Shuggie Otis and Marcos Valle have one too many caipirinhas and decide to visit outer space”. It fuses together Mark's space sounds and floaty pianos with Spanish guitar and busy, melodic bass creating a musical trip from the grounded and earthy sounds of Vol.1’ to the more upwards-looking and musically diverse sound of Vol.2.

The remixes give a different flavour to the release, but both pay homage to the original recordings. Sharing a mutual admiration for each other’s work, it seemed like a natural choice to ask Project Gemini to contribute. Here is what he had to say about his rework, “I’m a big fan of both volumes of Mark and Glenn’s ‘Globeflower’ LP’s and it was a huge honour to get a chance to rework one of my favourite tunes from Vol.2. There are many great layers to ‘A Voyage North’ so it was a lot of fun to choose my favourite elements, then put some Project Gemini flavours and sounds into the mix and create something new whilst hopefully keeping some of the spirit of the original track. A darker, fuzzier take on the album version”.

When Glenn first passed the original album to Steve KIW, his collaborator in Balearic production outfit Andres y Xavi, this was one of two tracks which he picked out as having some particularly Balearic DNA. As such, pushing this concept to its logical conclusion seemed like the obvious thing to do. There’s a shaded sunset sound paired with a 4/4 beat of Latin-leaning.

Glenn Fallows & Mark Treffel - Echo The Oread

Record label. Record shop. Film label. Since 1989.

Glenn Fallows & Mark Treffel - Echo The Oread

Mr Bongo