Interview with Marcello Marcus Cotten

Words by Sabrina Garnier

Marcello Marcus Cotten is a Contemporary Visual Artist and Music Producer based in Portland. Recent accolades include Qwartz Electronic Music Awards nominations, Cotten’s art projects have been exhibited at the Portland Art Museum and NW Film Center, in Portland Oregon.

ArtFrontiere caught up with Marcello Marcus Cotten to talk about his most recent project, 'Melodies To Accompany Subsequent Design'. The album includes 7 tracks, produced and composed by the artist and is inspired by visuals and everyday life. ‘Melodies To Accompany Subsequent Design’ is available on Itunes, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music & Pandora. 

AF: 'Melodies To Accompany Subsequent Design' is your latest Album, could you tell us a bit about it?

I wanted to create music that embodies the spirit of ‘forward thinking design’.

I practice theoretical physics that's how I formed my studies on the relationship between Colour, time, and society through theoretical physics. I call the study Colour Analytics.These are things I think about at when producing and composing music.

I have been looking at architecture, furniture design, interface design, automobile design to name a few. Different colour combinations and the relationship between Colour and Time. I try to think of basic colours as way to communicate new ways of seeing and looking at things.

Marcello Marcus Cotten

“The music was inspired by visual ideas. However the final cover art and official artwork associated with the album, were inspired by the music. It's typically a reciprocal relationship for the things I create.”

For the album, Cotten produced a limited edition handcrafted CD cover design for "Melodies To Accompany Subsequent Design"

AF: Are you already thinking about your next projects?

I’m currently working on more music to follow up the album I just released "Melodies To Accompany Subsequent Design". I have been interested in the relationship between Colour, Time, and Society I practice theoretical physics is part of my creative and scientific practice.

AF: Finally, tell us a few things you’ve been loving lately?

I am pretty much head over heels with electronic musician Actress aka Darren Cunningham, and I always enjoy music from, Gyorgi Ligeti, Debussy, Steve Reich, John Coltrane, and Brian Eno, those are all time favorites. I recently discovered Suzanne Ciani, I am a bit late to her but I absolutely love her contribution to music. I was also gifted an awesome book called A Brief History If Music by Hans Ulrich Obrist , I enjoyed reading that. I enjoy watching films by Michaelangelo Antonioni, his an all time favourite. Recently discovered Architect Alvar Alto, I think his buildings have such a surreptitious beauty to them.

Follow Marcello Marcus Cotten @emit_shapor