“Making this album was about the desire for change, to explore and experiment,” says producer, composer and filmmaker, Marc Eiden. I wanted to start in one place and end in a whole other reality. I want this album to take people on a journey.”
Deep and existential, joyful and dynamic, the album is at once reminiscent of the golden age of late 90s dance music, and filled with a sense of the future, moving with a confidence that few modern artists can muster. There is never any sense of relying on production techniques to mask deficiencies in musical ability or imagination. It’s an album that rewards close attention and can soundtrack a day.
Run God Run collects music made over the last six years and absolutely succeeds in taking the listener on a journey. Much of the creation of Run God Run occurred during Melbourne’s pandemic lockdown and what Eiden describes as “gnarly health issues”.
“Before lockdown I got really sick. I had kidney issues and had to take immune suppressing medication, so even after lockdown lifted it meant there were lots of risks in playing live. The upside to being shut in like that was total focus without distraction.
Much of the album’s tension is built through the careful use of looped sounds. Eiden creates beats and samples, plays synthesisers, and composes the arrangements. It’s a style of making music that feels instantly nostalgic, even if the sounds feel futuristic.
“My method often involves recording long sessions, exploring sounds and playing with beats and discovering loops within it,” he says. “I really gravitate towards music that has subtle changes, where there’s a sense of building tension, holding and refusing to move forward until it breaks. Music is really filmic for me, and songs like that are like scenes - they take you on a journey - there’s me at the start, and then by the end I’ve had all these new experiences, and I’m different as a result. That dynamic is really exciting to me.”
Live performances by The Artificial Limb typically involve drummer Al Stanley and visual artist Sean Hogan. The trio last worked together for performances to promote Eiden’s album Inner Circle / Outer Circle, a more electronic and beats-driven project.
Run God Run is perfect listening while travelling in a car, train or aeroplane but, Eiden says, inspiration came from the idea of prolonged physical exertion.
“In the 1980s, there was a race from Sydney to Melbourne, a 1000 kilometre ultramarathon. There’s a legendary Greek runner called Yiannis Kouros, who was known as The Running God. That’s where the words ‘run god run’ came from. I just thought that was a great title.
The album’s title track is a twelve-minute epic that at once evokes the ideas of 1980s nostalgia, and the idea of space and scale drawn simply. It’s a remarkably effective and impactful combination.
“I found these four notes that sounded so cheesy, like a theme from a John Hughes movie, and I just leaned into it,” Eiden says. “I didn’t know where it was going and suddenly, I had the first couple of minutes. Holding on sustained notes, I was able to create a rhythm with the Moog. It was all done in one take, and I realised that this is how the album had to end. The song is a bit of a marathon, getting through my health issues has been a marathon - it just felt right.”
Run God Run is an album that rewards close attention. It’s easy to hear how Eiden’s day job as a video producer for the ABC, and his love of film have created frequencies pulled from the visual spectrum and turned into warm tones, motorik drumming and propulsive melodies.
“The meaning of Run God Run keeps changing for me,” he says. “I’m not religious in any way, but imagining the concept of God - running towards God, running away from God, God running away from us, that’s all pretty interesting to me.”
credits
released November 10, 2023
Written and produced by Marc Eiden (The Artificial Limb).
Track 5 (Diagonal) written and produced by Daniel Jumpertz and Marc Eiden (The Artificial Limb).
Design and artwork: Sean Hogan
Mixing on tracks (1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10) by Greg Seiler
Mixing on tracks (5,7,9) by Daniel Jumpertz
Mastered by Greg Seiler at Blue Mountain Sound.
Big Thanks to: Jessica Dean, The Golden Circle, Sean Hogan, Eiden Family Ties, Rocket & Luna, Alan Stanley, Greg Seiler, and Danny Jumpertz & FM.
Warped, sample-driven songs from this Egyptian DJ combines everything from old soul to Tuvan Throat Singing, to head-spinning results. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 15, 2016