Please welcome to the stage, Mr. Mark Wilkins

I am really delighted to welcome an old friend Mark Wilkins to The Island of Music. It is great to have access to his music because he is a very interesting and talented musician who has been composing songs, and music for theatre, and many other projects for decades now. 'Soundtracking' is his latest album release, which is very worldly. It is mostly instrumental pieces with breathtaking touches of pure magic vocals from Victoria Keating.

Mark is a multi-instrumentalist. As well as guitar and bass, all the instruments you hear throughout the album with weird and less familiar names like the saz, klong yaw, tablas, dulcimer, and sansulas are all played by him. For as long as I have known him he has been playing instruments that so many of us hadn't even heard of yet.

When you listen to his compositions you can tell he has been immersed in music all his life. There are so many exciting hints of influences from people like Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Jack Bruce, Danny Thompson, and so on...

He can take you on a trip to old-style 'baroquey' English folk or across the continents and indulge you in eastern delights.

With all his musicality and intelligence, Mark creates beautiful atmospheric, experimental pieces that invoke nostalgia and intrigue. He creates layers and layers to his compositions giving them great depth in texture, dynamics, and structure. He works with great musicians and knows how to get the best from them.

Mark is undoubtedly a very accomplished craftsman but what is very endearing about him is his unassuming ways. He doesn't strut about as a man of brilliance. He just is. There is no bullshit. Have a listen, buy his music, and check out his bio and gallery.

https://www.islandofmusic.ie/mark-wilkins

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