14 months of gruelling work, 2000 marbles, 3000 custom parts.
Martin Molin of Swedish act, Wintergatan tells JOE that he takes it as a compliment when people describe him as crazy.
His creation, the Marble Machine, is the first musical instrument of its kind; the product of an eccentric mind and outrageous musical talent.
Below, we talk to Martin about why he’s built this Frankenstein creation but, more importantly, this is what 2000 marbles making music sounds like:
JOE: What inspired you to make the Marble Machine?
Martin Molin: My inspiration came from the whole Marble Machines culture which is a big subculture in itself.
I’m talking about YouTube carpenters like Matthias Wandel, Jimmy Diresta and Frank Howarth.
JOE: How would you describe what it sounds like to someone who hasn’t heard it?
Like a steam engine without the steam and some bells on top and bass below.
JOE: Has the sounds turned out as you expected when you first conceived the idea?
Yes but I was very naive about how hard it is to control these marbles.
There are 2000 of them in the machine and they behave like water.
I still dream secretly about perfecting it!
JOE: Do people think you’re crazy?
Yes! I accept the compliment while doing my best to show there is a method in the craziness.
JOE: How are you going to transport it when you go on tour?
It’s too big to tour right now, we don’t have a crew big enough, and, more importantly, it is still a little bit too glitchy for live use.
JOE: Which musician would you most like to see use it?
I would love to see Daft Punk putting it up as a support act for their show!
JOE: Are you playing any Irish shows?
We would love to, never did. Invite us and we’ll come!I love the Celtic Harp and we are using it in the band.
But it turned out we were playing it backwards. Still works.
JOE: Will you make any more weird instruments?
I am working on a motorized music-box for live use, that will play by it self and be mechanically programmed.
It’s going to be ready in May when we start touring again and we will use it onstage as a fifth band member.
JOE: Has it been worth it?
Yes. Much more because of the insights in my own creative process it has given me than the actual results.
I think I learnt a lot from my very long list of mistakes during this process.
Both the building mistakes, of course, but the mistakes involved in how I formed this long creative process have been the most interesting ones.
To be precise: I documented the build by filming for YouTube but I only showed successful days!
I should have showed only the mistakes which is far more interesting and 17 out of 19 days were mistake days.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
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