***ALBUM OF THE MONTH | January 2022***
Amber Mark
Three Dimensions Deep
PMR/Interscope
Listen Below
After the release of her debut EPs, the strikingly emotional 3:33am in 2017, the bossa nova nuanced Conexão in 2018, and the acclaimed home-produced series “Covered-19,” New York-based singer, songwriter, and producer Amber Mark has resurfaced with her debut album Three Dimensions Deep.
Like all great things, it took the artist a lot of work and introspection to craft her new project. An extensive 17-track record, Three Dimensions Deep is the result of her personal and artistic endeavors and evolution. “This album has been a long time coming,” Mark explains in the first part of her documentary series. “I’ve been working pretty much all my life since my first album.”
Three Dimensions Deep presents three main acts, unveiling the degree of depth Mark has reached through the connection to her inner universe: WITHOUT, WITHHELD, and WITHIN. “An album about searching through the universe around us, but in doing so searching through the universe within,” she recounts.
The project is a superbly profound work, finding the singer studying the theories of the universe, through which she seeks answers and peace of mind and soul. Such emotional labor led the artist “to a fresh perspective on life and a renewed self.”
Sonically speaking, the record is multi-layered and multi-hued, drawing from R&B, funk, pop, soul, and hip-hop, with a dash of shimmer, a sharp futuristic-feel, velvet vocals, and international accents influenced by the singer’s voyages around the globe.
Three Dimensions Deep is simultaneously a poignant concept album, a love letter Mark dedicates to herself, and a place of comfort, which blends words of affirmation, self-compassion, encouragement, and self-worth, wreathed with astronomy and the far-away-galaxies. Ultimately, the artist’s interests in the universe, sci-fi, and astrophysics perfectly accompany her journey toward her self-actualization.
The first act of the album, WITHOUT, opens with the song “One,” setting the tone for the forthcoming healing quest, where the artist begins to acknowledge her deepest insecurities and anxieties. The trip segues into the vital step of contemplating existential questions, seeking the reasons for the suffering, pain, and trauma, on an astral scale, as she croons, “What is the point of it all?”
In the following three songs, “Most Men,” Healing Hurts,” and “Bubbles,” Mark touches upon her latest breakup, its aftermath, and the loss of her mother, respectively, leading to the realization that time is a fundamental element in processing trauma and letting it out of the system.
The second dimension is introduced by “Softly” and “FOMO,” centered on the liminal moment between frustration and self-love. It is with “Turnin’ Pages,” however, that the artist begins to actively address her inner turmoil with lines like “Got no time to ache, love / I don’t need nobody better / Me, Myself, and I.”
“Foreign Things” and “On & On” are pivotal moments for Mark to shift her point of consciousness within, then finding the bravery to face her demons. The momentum of the whole record is “On & On,” in which the artist expresses her deepest fear of inadequacy, and whilst waiting for a sign, her mother comes through to remind her to “surrender to all problems.”
As the metaphysical adventure advances, and as Mark wanders into her inmost universe, the aural experience gets more spacey and ethereal. “Out Of This World” serves the artist to reconnect with her mother who’s offering consolation and advice. “Out Of This World” also introduces the listener to the album’s third dimension: WITHIN.
“Cosmic” and the Prince-esque “Darkness” are fundamental for the re-exploration of the love motif. However, this time, the singer reevaluates her awareness of romance, completely reshaping her perception of it, and ultimately, she elevates it to celestial heights. While looking for the light to release her feeling in “Worth it” and “Competition,” Mark identifies her inner universe, along with those carried by the people surrounding her.
“Bliss” is the comedown from the sonic out-of-body experience, in which the artist describes love as a euphoric state.
Closing the astral experience, “Event Horizon” sounds like a celestial dream-state lullaby, where Mark poses further key questions about the universe “What is the end when there is no time / Will it be alright?”
Overall, Three Dimensions Deep is a stirring work, a testament to Mark’s struggles, pain, insecurities, deep wounds, and healing journey. Through the intense yet mending lyrics, glistening and futuristic tunes, Mark soars into a galaxy of electrifying anthems, which provide her with the space, time, and breadth to go three dimensions deep, face her innermost demons and wounds, and ultimately grow out of them.
As Prince once said, “Music is healing. It holds things together,” and Amber Mark, with her new album, has turned her deepest despair into healing art.
Notable Tracks: “Bliss” | “Darkside” | “Out Of This World” | “What It Is” | “Worth It”
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