Staff Reviews

Marques Toliver - Land Of CanAan

Review by Neil Ashman

Despite Marques Toliver's illustrious CV and unconventional route to the release of his first album, Land of CanAan proves to be a competent, but disappointingly conventional affair.»

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Singer and violinist Marques Toliver's debut album 'Land of Canaan' has been a long time coming. Emerging in 2009 after being discovered busking in New York by members of TV on the Radio, Toliver then toured with Holly Miranda before releasing his debut EP, the stunning 'Butterflies Are Not Free', in 2011. Between then and now he's moved to London, launched his own magazine, Love Is the Law, appeared in a modelling campaign for All Saints and recently starred in Bat for Lashes' video for Laura. All of this extracurricular activity - alongside regularly busking on London's Brick Lane - hasn't clouded his focus, however, with 'Land of Canaan' inspired by everything from social reformer Frederick Douglass, to the Bible to, as he puts it, "the music of now" (three of the album's 10 songs were co-written by Eg White who's worked with Adele, Florence and Tom Odell).
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