ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Mar+Mer

Clint Maximus invited Soho Garden residents Mar+Mer to be our artist of the week. The impressive duo filled us in on how they met, their residency, and the music they’ve been working on.

How did you both meet, and what is it like working in the studio together?

Mer: Well, we met basically about eight years ago through a friend, Manuel, who was one of the directors at Provocateur. We knew each other beforehand becaause we were in the industry, of course, and then Manuel had a night where he wanted to put us together in Provocateur. It was a Sunday night, industry night, and he just thought, let’s see what happens. We started the night and then things just gelled and it was very organic musically and vibe and everything.

Mer: We had the same kind of background in Dubai in terms of working on the scene from 2009-2010. So, we all, we came up through the electronic music scene, which was very young in Dubai back then. Ee forged our talents via Manuel and we did a residency there at Provocateur, it was just lovely and it just built from there.

You did a massive event at Expo with Soho Garden featuring Solomon. How do you prepare for such significant gigs?

Mar: That’s a good question. There are two of us, so, it becomes that we’re building off each other’s energy. We don’t prepare because it’s kind of giving away a mystery. We try to keep the mystery in the music, we keep it in our performance and actually even in the studio. We know where we’re going… from experience, we understand what we need to do. We’re playing off each other’s energy along with the crowd and it just comes naturally. And after doing it so long together, we know where we’re going.

Mer: Yes, for example, the Solomon gig or an event like that is huge for us, it’s amazing. The beauty of that is that neither of us know who’s going to play what next, and it gives us the spontaneity of it. It’s amazing and exciting for the audience as it is for us. As Mark says, it’s something that we’ve kind of been doing for a while. So, it just becomes easier and easier.

Let’s talk about production. One track that stands out is the one you did with Superflu. How did that collaboration come about?

Mer: Yeah, I mean, the guys, Superflu, we’ve known for a few years and their music is also something that’s very similar to our style and vibe. We were working on some music and from time to time, we send them stuff over and in this particular case, it was something that they really resonated with and it just happened. When making tracks, sometimes you just make them and then it’s the universe or the magic just pops out and I think it was just something that they felt. We sent them the vocals and then they put some rhythm and some vibes on it. It was all done remotely because they’re based in Germany and us here in Dubai.

Mar: Yeah, that track we started with a vibe. Initially, it was a little bit of a heavier vibe for us but we said, okay, let’s see what these guys can do. They did something a little bit rhythmically different and it really worked and it’s sweet. We like the hook on it. We grabbed the hook from an old Spanish folklore track, but just manipulated that and it just came out just very good.

When you get in the car, do you listen to house music or something different?

Mer: Personally, I listen to 80s, 90s, and classic music. All the inspiration comes from that.

Mar: My Spotify list is eclectic, from rock to hip-hop to classical to jazz. That’s what I grew up with, and it influences my music.

What does the name Mar and Mer mean?

Mar: Mar comes from the first three letters of my first and last name, and Mer from the first three letters of his last name. In Spanish and Italian, Mar means ocean, which resonates with us since we’re both water signs. It’s a creative way to combine our identities.

Tell us about your residency at Soho Garden, how you started and how it’s going?

Mer: We started playing with Soho in 2017, since it’s inception, about six years now. It’s been great because it’s of been a journey, even from the beginning. That place is like a film studio, so it’s always constantly changing every six months. We get to work with an array of different artists from all different genres, and our love for music showed that we’re able to cross genre and express our love for music with many different artists throughout the years. Some shows are a little bit more commercial, less Balearic, you know, just a variety of sounds. It’s been a great journey to be able to work and DJ alongside these artists. We pick up inspiration from the different sounds, and also in the studio when you go in and we’re making the music, it’s helped us a lot. The journey with Soho has been really amazing, it’s been a good exposure and good experience with the different international artists.

Mer: Yeah, I think to add to that, this has benefited to the artistry for us in the studio and expressing ourselves to the crowd and how we connect with them. The benefit is that we hear the different genres and we feel that electronic music should be expressed just cross-genre. This is how we feel about the music because I was influenced by different genres of music… it hurts me to stick in one genre when we’re playing because I feel like I want to express a little bit more. I think by hearing other artists, and all the different artists at Soho, they really, really inspired us. I think it’s a very good thing that we did there at Soho and moving on to the future.

What are your future plans? Any new tours, gigs, or music coming up?

Mar: Yeah, we’re putting an EP together now. So, it’s like an LP. There are four tracks that’s coming on our label Augmento, where we have released a few tracks before. We’re putting an LP on that and we’ve been shopping labels for some of our newer tracks. Our last release was on Tao as we have a little bit of relationship with the guys at Adana Twins from Tao. Our music is quite diverse, so we can play around with it. We just don’t have anything signed yet, but things are moving.

Mer: There’s always constant stuff going in the studio. We’re working constantly on new music and our sounds. We have our own label so we can release accordingly as and when. In terms of gigs, there’s Soho always ongoing, and we do get gigs from time to time that come through the international network. We’re looking at reaching out to some agencies for representation globally. We’re in talks now with a couple of them, so we’re going to hopefully open up to the more international network.