Belle Mare

Later this year, the Brooklyn duo Belle Mare will release the full-length follow-up to its 2013 EP, “The Boat of the Fragile Mind.” “Cicada,” the first single from the forthcoming album, surfaced in February, and true to form, it is a sprawling model of wistful dream pop that balances Amelia Bushell’s haunting vocals and Thomas Servidone’s evocative, minimal guitar work. Today, T premieres the video for the song, directed by the artist and documentary filmmaker — and, for the last few years, U2 collaborator — Nicole Mackinlay Hahn.

Hahn was first introduced to Belle Mare via Tom Elmhirst and Ben Baptie, producers at the famous Electric Lady Studios. “They called me and told me they were making an album with this band and that I had to come hear it,” Hahn recalls. “We sat and listened and I was immediately struck by how beautiful it was.” Shortly thereafter, she and Baptie started dreaming up visual ideas based on the band’s rough mixes. Hahn has long been interested in Africa — her interactive installation “Mirror/Africa,” exploring the continent’s role in the fashion supply chain, has been displayed at Barneys and the New Museum — and months after that initial brainstorm, once she had completed a documentary project on the women of Burkina Faso, Hahn suggested pairing some of that footage with Belle Mare’s music. “I had always wanted to do a conceptual, visual version of the longer film,” Hahn remembers. “The track was such an amazing melodic platform to do something with, and I think the atmospheric vibe led to us coming up with this idea together.”

The resulting video is a striking, sun-soaked visual collage of the landscapes, traditions and women that contribute to Burkina Faso’s notably progressive culture. “I was definitely trying to find a way to capture the emotions and the beauty, as well as this sci-fi element of Africa,” Hahn says. “A lot of the landscapes feel like the future. There are things about it that are so simple but so detailed — it would take me a long time to art-direct it — and it’s all just there.” - New York Times

30. Lorde – “Team”
29. Mr. Little Jeans - “Oh Sailor”
28. St. Lucia – “Elevate”
27. Ex Cops - “James”
26. James Blake – “Retrograde”
25. Panama – “Always”
24. Majical Cloudz – “This Is Magic”
23. Belle Mare - “The Boat of the Fragile Mind”
22. Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”
21. Lorde – “Tennis Court” - The Wild Honey Pie

It didn’t take very long — I think it was within a minute of the first time I listened all the way through — for me to fall in love with this EP. I then fell deeper in love with each additional listen. Each song on the album, from “The City” and “The Once Happy Heart”, to “Deep in Your Dark” and, the namesake, “The Boat of the Fragile Mind”, is a very personal, meticulously crafted piece of art that’ll tear your heart out. The EP as a whole is wonderfully sad — lead vocalist Amelia Bushell has certain inflections in her voice that take you straight back to the 1920s in a way that’s both distinct and yet very much in line with many who have crafted dream-like soundscapes before them (namely Beach House and Mazzy Star). Belle Mare might share similar traits to those other artists, but they’re doing it in a way that’s unique and all their own.

Belle Mare was a duo at the time of these recordings — just Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone together in his apartment, creating electronic melodies with quirks and pairing them with simplistic guitar picking and reverb-drenched vocals. In the past year, we’ve gotten to see them blossom from a bedroom project to a full-fledged five-piece. They’re currently recording their follow up, which I certainly hope we’ll see a release in 2014. Be on the lookout, Belle Mare will quietly generate a major buzz next year. Check out the Buzzsession we did with Belle Mare here and their episode of our interactive video series, Welcome Campers, here. - The Wild Honey Pie

Eight songs of finely poised arrangements that positively drift by; sounding at once like they're playing from a dusty old 1950?s gramophone, but also simply hanging in the air around you. The vocals are heart-breaking, while the atmosphere is sometimes too weighty to take it all in at once. Belle Mare stop me in my tracks everytime I listen to them. - Drowned In Sound

Eight songs of finely poised arrangements that positively drift by; sounding at once like they're playing from a dusty old 1950?s gramophone, but also simply hanging in the air around you. The vocals are heart-breaking, while the atmosphere is sometimes too weighty to take it all in at once. Belle Mare stop me in my tracks everytime I listen to them. - Drowned In Sound

It’s rare that the first syllable of a song captures our attention, but one second in, and the wavering hesitation on “The Boat of the Fragile Mind”, the title track from Brooklyn duo Belle Mare’s new EP, and I was a goner. Like the rest of the 8 tracks here it’s a fragile, melancholic sketch of acoustic dream pop woefulness. “We hope that we might make it out alive,” Amelia Bushell sings. We probably won’t though, will we? More - Bullett Media

Summer usually triggers us to immediately listen to Best Coast, Wavves, Bleached and bands of the like to really have that full fledged summer loving mood that make us want to run to the beach and grab a surfboard. However, we don't mind slowing down the tempo to enjoy some dream-pop that lets us enjoy the warm summer nights. Lo and behold, a cover by Brooklyn duo Belle Mare of "Beauty" originally by The Shivers, hits the spot.

Contrary to the original version of the acoustic tune, Belle Mare's ability to compose a refined dream-pop tune runs throughout their cover of "Beauty." Even with hints of lush melodies and harmonies, the song itself is eerie yet tranquil enough to put you in a state of awe to enjoy the song without having to break a sweat.

Make sure to listen to Belle Mare's cover of "Beauty" below, and click here to download their The Boat of A Fragile Mind EP to enjoy more of Belle Mare! Also, for all you New York people, make sure to catch them at Glasslands in Brooklyn on June 17th, where they'll be sharing the stage with San Fermin and Wilsen!
- Filter

Summer usually triggers us to immediately listen to Best Coast, Wavves, Bleached and bands of the like to really have that full fledged summer loving mood that make us want to run to the beach and grab a surfboard. However, we don't mind slowing down the tempo to enjoy some dream-pop that lets us enjoy the warm summer nights. Lo and behold, a cover by Brooklyn duo Belle Mare of "Beauty" originally by The Shivers, hits the spot.

Contrary to the original version of the acoustic tune, Belle Mare's ability to compose a refined dream-pop tune runs throughout their cover of "Beauty." Even with hints of lush melodies and harmonies, the song itself is eerie yet tranquil enough to put you in a state of awe to enjoy the song without having to break a sweat.

Make sure to listen to Belle Mare's cover of "Beauty" below, and click here to download their The Boat of A Fragile Mind EP to enjoy more of Belle Mare! Also, for all you New York people, make sure to catch them at Glasslands in Brooklyn on June 17th, where they'll be sharing the stage with San Fermin and Wilsen!
- Filter

Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone, the duo behind Brooklyn dream-pop outfit Belle Mare, think it's funny when I ask if they're romantically involved. Walking through the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair on a crowded Saturday afternoon, they insist they're more like siblings. Though you (correctly) wouldn't infer family resemblance by looking at them -- Bushell dresses in all black and speaks with a charmingly muddied accent; Servidone is built like a hockey player, decidedly American.
See also: Dirty Blonde: Fire Sale at the Brooklyn Flea's Superstar DJ Record Fair

Belle Mare's debut EP The Boat Of The Fragile Mind, which came out on April 9th, feels like a full-length record: eight songs of minimal melancholy inserted into pop structures. When Bushell sings "We could make it out alive" on the title track, you can rest assured survival comes with along with some scars. It wounds and attempts comfort in the same breath, exhaling tones of Mazzy Star, but is less anthemic, more restrained, and filtered through the moan of an English accent. Bushell is originally from London -- she says people often mistakenly think the entire band hails from that side of the pond.

She and Servidone actually met at an open mic in Park Slope, where Servidone offered to record a demo for her. Their musical chemistry was immediate: they wrote two songs in their first practice session. "I couldn't have asked to meet anybody better," he says in a brotherly tone. They've only been a band for about a year, but have already expanded to a full five-piece for their live shows.

Back at Record Flea, men with pushcarts hawk water bottles and musicians like Thundercat walk by. Servidone collects a stack of records and begins explaining their significance to him as a musician. He holds up Filigree & Shadow, an album by goth-pop supergroup This Mortal Coil. "I picked this one more just because of the Cocteau Twins," he says. "That's a big inspiration for our album, some of our vocal effects were really inspired by what the Cocteau Twins were doing."

Next up is David Bowie's Lodger, the last album in the storied "Berlin Trilogy." Servidone says those records, especially Low, have been a near constant source of wonderment. "I must have listened to [Low] more times than any other album," he says. "That, to me, on a production level whenever I'm doing songs, it's always in the back of my head. Brian Eno and David Bowie made a masterpiece with that one."


Servidone is talking about a Buffalo Springfield record (Neil Young is the first musician he ever really got into) when Bushell appears. She's holding a weathered Wanda Jackson LP, but soon begins talking about her dream vinyl find: Colour Green by German folk singer Sibylle Baier. Baier recorded the songs of her only record in the '70s, but they weren't unearthed until 2006 and have since become something of a cult classic. "She was a huge inspiration for me," Bushell says. "A woman who isn't afraid to have her own sound. It's so bare minimal, so quiet. There's a lot of sorrow there. I really look up to her for being able to write such a haunting album."

She turns to Servidone to see if he agrees. Same page, per usual -- sibling vibe in full swing.
- Village Voice

Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone, the duo behind Brooklyn dream-pop outfit Belle Mare, think it's funny when I ask if they're romantically involved. Walking through the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair on a crowded Saturday afternoon, they insist they're more like siblings. Though you (correctly) wouldn't infer family resemblance by looking at them -- Bushell dresses in all black and speaks with a charmingly muddied accent; Servidone is built like a hockey player, decidedly American.
See also: Dirty Blonde: Fire Sale at the Brooklyn Flea's Superstar DJ Record Fair

Belle Mare's debut EP The Boat Of The Fragile Mind, which came out on April 9th, feels like a full-length record: eight songs of minimal melancholy inserted into pop structures. When Bushell sings "We could make it out alive" on the title track, you can rest assured survival comes with along with some scars. It wounds and attempts comfort in the same breath, exhaling tones of Mazzy Star, but is less anthemic, more restrained, and filtered through the moan of an English accent. Bushell is originally from London -- she says people often mistakenly think the entire band hails from that side of the pond.

She and Servidone actually met at an open mic in Park Slope, where Servidone offered to record a demo for her. Their musical chemistry was immediate: they wrote two songs in their first practice session. "I couldn't have asked to meet anybody better," he says in a brotherly tone. They've only been a band for about a year, but have already expanded to a full five-piece for their live shows.

Back at Record Flea, men with pushcarts hawk water bottles and musicians like Thundercat walk by. Servidone collects a stack of records and begins explaining their significance to him as a musician. He holds up Filigree & Shadow, an album by goth-pop supergroup This Mortal Coil. "I picked this one more just because of the Cocteau Twins," he says. "That's a big inspiration for our album, some of our vocal effects were really inspired by what the Cocteau Twins were doing."

Next up is David Bowie's Lodger, the last album in the storied "Berlin Trilogy." Servidone says those records, especially Low, have been a near constant source of wonderment. "I must have listened to [Low] more times than any other album," he says. "That, to me, on a production level whenever I'm doing songs, it's always in the back of my head. Brian Eno and David Bowie made a masterpiece with that one."


Servidone is talking about a Buffalo Springfield record (Neil Young is the first musician he ever really got into) when Bushell appears. She's holding a weathered Wanda Jackson LP, but soon begins talking about her dream vinyl find: Colour Green by German folk singer Sibylle Baier. Baier recorded the songs of her only record in the '70s, but they weren't unearthed until 2006 and have since become something of a cult classic. "She was a huge inspiration for me," Bushell says. "A woman who isn't afraid to have her own sound. It's so bare minimal, so quiet. There's a lot of sorrow there. I really look up to her for being able to write such a haunting album."

She turns to Servidone to see if he agrees. Same page, per usual -- sibling vibe in full swing.
- Village Voice

London songstress Amelia Bushell met New York-based musician Thomas Servidone at an open mic night in Brooklyn, and the two have been making music ever since. Their debut EP, The Boat of the Fragile Mind, just dropped and it's filled with dreamy folk songs that are perfectly suited for the rainy days of April. The leading lady's just 21, but her lush retro voice, paired with her partner's gorgeous piano melodies, brings to mind Mazzy Star's ambient jams (fitting that she lists the '90s alt-rockers as an inspiration!).

We caught up with the frontwoman to find out who inspires her, and though Amelia sounds a bit heartbroken in her songs, she's actually cheery and adorable—and like fellow Brit-turned-Brooklynite Alexa Chung, was once really into the Spice Girls.

What album made you decide you wanted to pursue music?
Spice by the Spice Girls, because that was all I wanted to be as a little girl! The album that really gave me the courage to start pursuing music seriously though was Sharon Van Etten's Epic. I saw her perform at a record store in Vancouver when she was just starting out and I was so in awe of her that I thought to myself, I have to do this.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Bradford Cox. I truly respect his musical talent.

What albums or songs do you have on heavy rotation right now?
James Blake's Overgrown and Kurt Vile's Wakin on a Pretty Daze.

What influences the your sound the most?
You know that huge scary mansion in the movie Casper the Friendly Ghost? That's what runs through my head a lot when I'm writing songs. I'm also fascinated by the way my grandma sings. It's so old-fashioned sounding and I feel like that vibe somehow slipped into our music. Mazzy Star is a big inspiration, and Thom likes Grouper and The Smiths.

What's been your biggest oh-my-gosh-this-is-really-happening moment?
When I was asked to do this interview! It's a teen dream come true.

Stream their hauntingly beautiful single, "The Boat of the Fragile Mind." - Teen Vogue

London songstress Amelia Bushell met New York-based musician Thomas Servidone at an open mic night in Brooklyn, and the two have been making music ever since. Their debut EP, The Boat of the Fragile Mind, just dropped and it's filled with dreamy folk songs that are perfectly suited for the rainy days of April. The leading lady's just 21, but her lush retro voice, paired with her partner's gorgeous piano melodies, brings to mind Mazzy Star's ambient jams (fitting that she lists the '90s alt-rockers as an inspiration!).

We caught up with the frontwoman to find out who inspires her, and though Amelia sounds a bit heartbroken in her songs, she's actually cheery and adorable—and like fellow Brit-turned-Brooklynite Alexa Chung, was once really into the Spice Girls.

What album made you decide you wanted to pursue music?
Spice by the Spice Girls, because that was all I wanted to be as a little girl! The album that really gave me the courage to start pursuing music seriously though was Sharon Van Etten's Epic. I saw her perform at a record store in Vancouver when she was just starting out and I was so in awe of her that I thought to myself, I have to do this.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Bradford Cox. I truly respect his musical talent.

What albums or songs do you have on heavy rotation right now?
James Blake's Overgrown and Kurt Vile's Wakin on a Pretty Daze.

What influences the your sound the most?
You know that huge scary mansion in the movie Casper the Friendly Ghost? That's what runs through my head a lot when I'm writing songs. I'm also fascinated by the way my grandma sings. It's so old-fashioned sounding and I feel like that vibe somehow slipped into our music. Mazzy Star is a big inspiration, and Thom likes Grouper and The Smiths.

What's been your biggest oh-my-gosh-this-is-really-happening moment?
When I was asked to do this interview! It's a teen dream come true.

Stream their hauntingly beautiful single, "The Boat of the Fragile Mind." - Teen Vogue

This might literally be the opposite of Bleak Bisque: an EP recorded to such specific detail that every soft strum of the guitar, every moment of effects-laden sonic plastering, and every lyric requires careful, deliberate attention. The Boat Of The Fragile Mind is an EP perfect for a self-imposed solitude; an acoustic dream pop mini-masterpiece whose songs cascade in and out of an emotional abyss. Belle Mare are neither content to tie themselves to dream pop’s past nor afflicted with a need to sound overly modern: rather they settle into something both ancient and timeless, and into a bevy of acoustic textures which are not so easily described.

‘All This Time’ networks impressionistic piano lines with gilded guitar strums, and covers them in a fog of vocals reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins. Band members Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone have done a remarkable job of blending pre-war notions of atmosphere and grace with a very contemporary sense of lyric and fidelity. Records like these are often bogged down by an abundance of tonal instruments and a lack rhythmic ones, and as a result may become sludgy and incomprehensible. But on The Boat Of The Fragile Mind guitars and vocals remain crisp and clear: even amongst the murk they have designed around themselves as a sonic playpen.

Though the songs collected here are not necessarily positive ones, they may leave the listener with a sense of warmth and joy. This is a dark EP, and most tracks – like ‘The City’ and ‘So Long’ – seem to evoke palpable sensations of loss. The Boat Of The Fragile Mind is a remarkable EP, and one that I expect will gain the duo that created it a lot of tractionin the Brooklyn scene. These days, it is difficult to exhibit traditional notions of sonic beauty while remaining original, but the dark and atmospheric dream pop of Belle Mare manages to do so quite stunningly. - Dingus

This might literally be the opposite of Bleak Bisque: an EP recorded to such specific detail that every soft strum of the guitar, every moment of effects-laden sonic plastering, and every lyric requires careful, deliberate attention. The Boat Of The Fragile Mind is an EP perfect for a self-imposed solitude; an acoustic dream pop mini-masterpiece whose songs cascade in and out of an emotional abyss. Belle Mare are neither content to tie themselves to dream pop’s past nor afflicted with a need to sound overly modern: rather they settle into something both ancient and timeless, and into a bevy of acoustic textures which are not so easily described.

‘All This Time’ networks impressionistic piano lines with gilded guitar strums, and covers them in a fog of vocals reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins. Band members Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone have done a remarkable job of blending pre-war notions of atmosphere and grace with a very contemporary sense of lyric and fidelity. Records like these are often bogged down by an abundance of tonal instruments and a lack rhythmic ones, and as a result may become sludgy and incomprehensible. But on The Boat Of The Fragile Mind guitars and vocals remain crisp and clear: even amongst the murk they have designed around themselves as a sonic playpen.

Though the songs collected here are not necessarily positive ones, they may leave the listener with a sense of warmth and joy. This is a dark EP, and most tracks – like ‘The City’ and ‘So Long’ – seem to evoke palpable sensations of loss. The Boat Of The Fragile Mind is a remarkable EP, and one that I expect will gain the duo that created it a lot of tractionin the Brooklyn scene. These days, it is difficult to exhibit traditional notions of sonic beauty while remaining original, but the dark and atmospheric dream pop of Belle Mare manages to do so quite stunningly. - Dingus

It’s rare that the first syllable of a song captures our attention, but one second in, and the wavering hesitation on “The Boat of the Fragile Mind”, the title track from Brooklyn duo Belle Mare’s new EP, and I was a goner. Like the rest of the 8 tracks here it’s a fragile, melancholic sketch of acoustic dream pop woefulness. “We hope that we might make it out alive,” Amelia Bushell sings. We probably won’t though, will we? - Bullett Media

It’s rare that the first syllable of a song captures our attention, but one second in, and the wavering hesitation on “The Boat of the Fragile Mind”, the title track from Brooklyn duo Belle Mare’s new EP, and I was a goner. Like the rest of the 8 tracks here it’s a fragile, melancholic sketch of acoustic dream pop woefulness. “We hope that we might make it out alive,” Amelia Bushell sings. We probably won’t though, will we? - Bullett Media

Keeping with today’s theme of molasses-slow, euphoric, female-fronted dream pop, here’s Brooklyn-via-London duo Belle Mare with the lovely, haunting “The Boat Of The Fragile Mind”

I tend to prefer schizophrenic, multi-layered compositions these days: the sort of music informed by the frenetic, overblown dissemination of information and culture that’s defined much of our globalized, connected world over the last twenty years. Perhaps that makes minimal gems like “The Boat Of The Fragile Mind” all the more compelling. It’s strangely disconcerting and comforting at the same time, with eerie-sweet vocal harmonies that swell the song’s otherwise empty space. “We could make it out alive,” Amelia Bushell croons, suggesting there’s a place for the delicate and intrapersonal in this world as much as the shared and interpersonal. An increasingly novel if not wholly foreign concept altogether. - I Guess I'm Floating

For whatever reason, a woman in pain, a woman lost, will always sound compelling when put to music. Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone, together known as Belle Mare, packed plenty of that emotion into their debut EP, The Boat Of The Fragile Mind. Added to the pain, however, is another layer: madness, or at least the brink of it.

London native Bushell doesn’t sound lost exactly, but she is evasive — her voice is by turns an airy wave to Vashti Bunyan and Karen Dalton, and a ghostly salute to Ruth Etting. Bushell’s singing and Servidone’s sparse, emotional instrumentals draw us in with strokes of the familiar and keep us there with the understated strangeness of her low, darkly muted sorrow. If you’re into Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Angel Olsen, and Beach House, you will love Bell Mare.

Tempering clarity and beauty with convincing doubt and fear gives Belle Mare a theatrical, haunting edge over the many other female-fronted nods to the past. This is a band we are truly enamored with, a band that we’re thrilled to follow as they evolve and capture the hearts of new listeners. Ready to jump on the bandwagon? Download their EP, available for the time being only on Bandcamp (they’re officially releasing the EP this spring), for free right here. - The Wild Honey Pie

For whatever reason, a woman in pain, a woman lost, will always sound compelling when put to music. Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone, together known as Belle Mare, packed plenty of that emotion into their debut EP, The Boat Of The Fragile Mind. Added to the pain, however, is another layer: madness, or at least the brink of it.

London native Bushell doesn’t sound lost exactly, but she is evasive — her voice is by turns an airy wave to Vashti Bunyan and Karen Dalton, and a ghostly salute to Ruth Etting. Bushell’s singing and Servidone’s sparse, emotional instrumentals draw us in with strokes of the familiar and keep us there with the understated strangeness of her low, darkly muted sorrow. If you’re into Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Angel Olsen, and Beach House, you will love Bell Mare.

Tempering clarity and beauty with convincing doubt and fear gives Belle Mare a theatrical, haunting edge over the many other female-fronted nods to the past. This is a band we are truly enamored with, a band that we’re thrilled to follow as they evolve and capture the hearts of new listeners. Ready to jump on the bandwagon? Download their EP, available for the time being only on Bandcamp (they’re officially releasing the EP this spring), for free right here. - The Wild Honey Pie

London native Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone met at a Brooklyn open mic, the two bonded and soon Belle Mare was formed. The duo's debut, The Boat of the Fragile Mind, was released in December 2012 and is a pay-what-you-like download on their Bandcamp. The band's spare, delicate sound hinges on Bushell's hushed, fragile (yet soulful) vocals and the production adds a lovely air of mystery. You can stream it below.
Belle Mare have a few NYC shows coming up, including next Thursday (2/28) at Bar Matchless with Josh Quat, Indian and The Monte de Rosas Band. $6 at the door and more info here. They'll also play March 1 at Pianos with Ski Lodge, Night Panther, Day Joy and Gracie (tix) and then March 28 at Silent Barn with Archipelago and Ora Cogan (info). - Brooklyn Vegan

London native Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone met at a Brooklyn open mic, the two bonded and soon Belle Mare was formed. The duo's debut, The Boat of the Fragile Mind, was released in December 2012 and is a pay-what-you-like download on their Bandcamp. The band's spare, delicate sound hinges on Bushell's hushed, fragile (yet soulful) vocals and the production adds a lovely air of mystery. You can stream it below.
Belle Mare have a few NYC shows coming up, including next Thursday (2/28) at Bar Matchless with Josh Quat, Indian and The Monte de Rosas Band. $6 at the door and more info here. They'll also play March 1 at Pianos with Ski Lodge, Night Panther, Day Joy and Gracie (tix) and then March 28 at Silent Barn with Archipelago and Ora Cogan (info). - Brooklyn Vegan

Belle Mare is a Brooklyn-based dream pop duo consisting of Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone. Their sound relies heavily on generous use of reverb to the point of hypnosis, creating a light and spacious surrounding for Bushell’s chanteuse-like vocals to float peacefully around in.

The group’s debut album The Boat Of The Fragile Mind is less about the individual songs, and more about capturing a moment; one all-consuming moment of peaceful bliss, in which you are completely present. - In Between Songs

Belle Mare is a Brooklyn-based dream pop duo consisting of Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone. Their sound relies heavily on generous use of reverb to the point of hypnosis, creating a light and spacious surrounding for Bushell’s chanteuse-like vocals to float peacefully around in.

The group’s debut album The Boat Of The Fragile Mind is less about the individual songs, and more about capturing a moment; one all-consuming moment of peaceful bliss, in which you are completely present. - In Between Songs

The ability of music to transcend both time and space is a trait that doesn’t warrant any investigation, or even, really, any discussion; it just simply happens. At a personal level, records can attach themselves to specific memories and therefore become intertwined with that period. On a broader level songs and albums can be very much ‘of their time’ in regard to the way in which they’re recorded, or which genre’s are prominent at the time (oh hello Britpop, etc). Occasionally though some music arrives that doesn’t just ignore the whole time/space thing, it seemingly transcends everything; it hangs in the air, becoming a part of the surrounding glow, existing everywhere and nowhere all at once.

As a collection of songs The Boat Of The Fragile Mind by Belle Mare is one such piece of music. Eight songs of finely poised arrangements that just drift in and around you; sounding at once like they’re playing from a dusty old 1950's gramophone, while at the same time seeming to be suspended in the ether – as much a part of your own internal contemplation’s than as a tangible artifact made by people, for people.

In real terms, Belle Mare are a duo based in Brooklyn (vocalist Amelia Bushell is from London, Thomas Servidone is native) but you don’t really need to know that. Sit down somewhere quiet, play their remarkable record and it won’t be about who or what, it will simply just be. - Gold Flake Paint

The ability of music to transcend both time and space is a trait that doesn’t warrant any investigation, or even, really, any discussion; it just simply happens. At a personal level, records can attach themselves to specific memories and therefore become intertwined with that period. On a broader level songs and albums can be very much ‘of their time’ in regard to the way in which they’re recorded, or which genre’s are prominent at the time (oh hello Britpop, etc). Occasionally though some music arrives that doesn’t just ignore the whole time/space thing, it seemingly transcends everything; it hangs in the air, becoming a part of the surrounding glow, existing everywhere and nowhere all at once.

As a collection of songs The Boat Of The Fragile Mind by Belle Mare is one such piece of music. Eight songs of finely poised arrangements that just drift in and around you; sounding at once like they’re playing from a dusty old 1950's gramophone, while at the same time seeming to be suspended in the ether – as much a part of your own internal contemplation’s than as a tangible artifact made by people, for people.

In real terms, Belle Mare are a duo based in Brooklyn (vocalist Amelia Bushell is from London, Thomas Servidone is native) but you don’t really need to know that. Sit down somewhere quiet, play their remarkable record and it won’t be about who or what, it will simply just be. - Gold Flake Paint

We’ve been pretty upbeat on these pages recently, but there are times, especially in these bleak months of the year, when something different and introspective is what’s required to fill the aching, gaping hole in your soul and make you step back from the precipice.

The Brooklyn-based duo Belle Mare is made up of Thomas Servdone and ex-Londoner Amelia Bushell, and the pair have found a sound that is gloriously timeless whether on the tranquillity of tracks such as The City or the delicate and destructive The Boat on the Fragile Mind. - The Blue Walrus

We’ve been pretty upbeat on these pages recently, but there are times, especially in these bleak months of the year, when something different and introspective is what’s required to fill the aching, gaping hole in your soul and make you step back from the precipice.

The Brooklyn-based duo Belle Mare is made up of Thomas Servdone and ex-Londoner Amelia Bushell, and the pair have found a sound that is gloriously timeless whether on the tranquillity of tracks such as The City or the delicate and destructive The Boat on the Fragile Mind. - The Blue Walrus

Amelia & Thomas of the New York based dream pop band, Belle Mare have just released their debut project, which I must say is really quite lovely. Both Amelia‘s chilling vocals & the slightly distorted instrumentals wisp in from a distance, slightly muffled as if the sounds are working their way into your dreams. If you want to know more about Belle Mare (which you will) then just check out the interview down below, which also features the duo playing 2 of their songs live. Enjoy. - MatchMusik

Amelia & Thomas of the New York based dream pop band, Belle Mare have just released their debut project, which I must say is really quite lovely. Both Amelia‘s chilling vocals & the slightly distorted instrumentals wisp in from a distance, slightly muffled as if the sounds are working their way into your dreams. If you want to know more about Belle Mare (which you will) then just check out the interview down below, which also features the duo playing 2 of their songs live. Enjoy. - MatchMusik

Brooklyn duo Belle Mare (aka Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone) released their home-recorded debut EP, The Boat of the Fragile Mind, in late 2012, and they've now recently finished up studio time at Electric Lady working on their first full length. They went in as a full band with help from drummer Rob Walbourne (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), bassist Gary Atturio (Savoir Adore), and keyboardist Tara Rook, along with producers Tom Elmhirst and Ben Baptie, who worked together on U2's Songs of Innocence, Beck's Morning Phase, Arcade Fire's Reflektor and more. The album is expected sometime this fall, but meanwhile they're first releasing "Cicada" as a single. With the song's loungey atmospheric vibes, falsetto vocals, and the final crashing crescendo, it sounds like they probably take more than a little influence from Radiohead and Sigur Ros, but they're thankfully not just copying those bands. Check it out for yourself, it makes its premiere below. - Brooklyn Vegan

Brooklyn duo Belle Mare describes its music as dream-pop, which is more than fair enough: Singer Amelia Bushell and guitarist Thomas Servidone (of Hartford band Heirlooms) certainly evoke a dreamy sensibility on “The Boat of the Fragile Mind,” their debut. She sings in quiet, murmuring tones, accompanied by muted piano arpeggios, strummed acoustic guitar and lush, subdued bubbles of electric guitar.

The duo’s songs play as though you’re hearing them from afar — from behind a closed door down a dimly lit corridor, or drifting through an upper-level window late on a humid night. It’s charming on “All This Time” as Bushell’s vocal melody ebbs and flows over plinking piano and echoes of ambient noise, and vaguely foreboding on “The Once Happy Heart,” a dark guitar figure circling around vocals that sound transported from some other time. In fact, the songs evoke a sense of distance that’s more than just physical: it’s easy to imagine the closer “So Long” playing over the radio in the background of some half-empty saloon in the 1940s, or the title track echoing in Greenwich Village in the early ’60s. It sounds contradictory, but achieving a sense of timeless unbeholden to a specific time isn’t an easy task, which makes the nine songs on Belle Mare’s debut all the more impressive.

— Eric R. Danton - Listen, Damnit

Brooklyn duo Belle Mare describes its music as dream-pop, which is more than fair enough: Singer Amelia Bushell and guitarist Thomas Servidone (of Hartford band Heirlooms) certainly evoke a dreamy sensibility on “The Boat of the Fragile Mind,” their debut. She sings in quiet, murmuring tones, accompanied by muted piano arpeggios, strummed acoustic guitar and lush, subdued bubbles of electric guitar.

The duo’s songs play as though you’re hearing them from afar — from behind a closed door down a dimly lit corridor, or drifting through an upper-level window late on a humid night. It’s charming on “All This Time” as Bushell’s vocal melody ebbs and flows over plinking piano and echoes of ambient noise, and vaguely foreboding on “The Once Happy Heart,” a dark guitar figure circling around vocals that sound transported from some other time. In fact, the songs evoke a sense of distance that’s more than just physical: it’s easy to imagine the closer “So Long” playing over the radio in the background of some half-empty saloon in the 1940s, or the title track echoing in Greenwich Village in the early ’60s. It sounds contradictory, but achieving a sense of timeless unbeholden to a specific time isn’t an easy task, which makes the nine songs on Belle Mare’s debut all the more impressive.

— Eric R. Danton - Listen, Damnit

"The eerie dream pop of Belle Mare features the haunting vocals of Amelia Bushell and the instrumental compositions of Thomas Servidone. Based in Brooklyn, the duo currently have three singles freely available on Bandcamp.

The tracks are spacious and simple, and will appeal to fans of Mazzy Star and Beach House. The ethereal and poetic, “The Boat of a Fragile Mind,” floats along like a bottle on the sea at night.”The City” is a bit brighter, yet reflective as Bushell plays yearning 60's pop chanteuse backed by what sounds like disembodied backing voices, while “So Long” is a melancholy, yet resolute, departure song." - The Dadada

"The eerie dream pop of Belle Mare features the haunting vocals of Amelia Bushell and the instrumental compositions of Thomas Servidone. Based in Brooklyn, the duo currently have three singles freely available on Bandcamp.

The tracks are spacious and simple, and will appeal to fans of Mazzy Star and Beach House. The ethereal and poetic, “The Boat of a Fragile Mind,” floats along like a bottle on the sea at night.”The City” is a bit brighter, yet reflective as Bushell plays yearning 60's pop chanteuse backed by what sounds like disembodied backing voices, while “So Long” is a melancholy, yet resolute, departure song." - The Dadada

I’ve been swooning over music of Belle Mare since I first heart their EP The Boat of the Fragile Mind a couple of years ago, the title track from which ended up on our best songs of the year list in 2013 and the 26 of the saddest songs ever list. Or sleeping, rather. The music is the merest suggestion of a presence, a somnambulant beauty that ensconces the listener in a cocoon of warmth, even amidst the persistent sadness.

In the meantime, the songwriting team of Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone, and the rest of the Brookln five piece, have been busy recording their debut full length, due out next Fall, at Electric Lady Studio, with Grammy-winner Tom Elmhirst and Ben Baptie. The first song from the album, “Cicada”, is the most expansive and aggressive we’ve heard them to date. It takes a while to get to that riotous denouement, however, with the balance of the song continuing apace in the dream haze space they typically inhabit.

“‘Cicada’ is the first song we recorded at Electric Lady. We had been playing it live for a while before we went into the studio,”Servidone says. “Since that point, we had been interpreting songs we had already recorded for a live audience, so it was nice to do the reverse and go into the studio and knock something out as a full band.”

“Electric Lady is haunted in the best way possible,” he says of the studio, built by Jimi Hendrix, and host at one time or another to the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, The Clash, The Strokes, and Hall & Oates among many others. “It’s such an inspiring place, and ‘Cicada’ being the first song we recorded there makes it the most memorable session. In many ways, the song served as a benchmark for the everything we recorded afterwards.” - Bullett Magazine

Since 2013′s The Boat Of The Fragile Mind EP (which I still regret not picking up a limited cassette of), Brooklyn’s Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone, the duo known as Belle Mare, has been a band we’ve kept a careful eye on. Following a Shivers cover from the same year, we’re thrilled to finally have new material from the band to play on repeat.

“Cicada” is a 5-minute epic of dreamy pop a la Beach House which builds into a shoegaze storm of noisy guitars, crashing drums and haunting vocals before fading out and demanding that you hit play again for another experience. Expanding on their previous sound and now working as a full band with the help of Tara Rook on keyboards, Rob Walbourne on drums (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), and Gary Atturio on bass (Savoir Adore), “Cicada” is our first taste of the band’s debut full-length which is set to release some time later this year. The record was recorded at the legendary Electric Lady Studios with Tom Elmhirst and producer Ben Baptie, a team that’s worked with U2, Beck, Arcade Fire and several other award-winning artists. - Under the Gun Review

The great city of New York is a place where anything can happen, where chance turns to opportunity and a glance could turn into something platonic or even intimate. In the winter of 2012, Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone each decided to go to an open-mic event in Brooklyn, sharing their songs with like-minded others and looking for advice or even a chance of meeting a producer or talent scout. What they found instead was an instant chemistry with each other and similar love for music that enchanted and challenged people. From that chance encounter, Belle Mare was formed.

In the spring of 2013, about four months from when they first set eyes on one another, they released the terrific The Boat of the Fragile Mind, an eight-track EP of haunting, emotionally-charged, dream-folk songs. Joined by Tara Rook (keys/vocals), Gary Atturio (bass), and Rob Walbourne (drums), Belle Mare quietly and subtly mesmerize throughout the album and at times put chills down your spine. The EP affected us in so many unknown ways that it was added to our 2013 Year-End Playlist, which featured tracks from our favourite albums of that year.
Two years later, Belle Mare have returned. On Monday, they released “Cicada”, which is the lead track from their much anticipated new album. The new single sees the band evolve, moving away from the minimalist approach of their debut EP to one that is more ethereal, more atmospheric, and more starkly haunting. It’s a brilliant, bone-chilling track that starts off with the beauty of their past efforts but ends in a cascade of minimalist percussion and guitars. The single has only increased our anticipation of Belle Mare’s debut LP.

Amelia and Thomas were also kind enough to give us some hints about their latest project, which you can read in the Q&A below. And as you’re reading it, you can purchase “Cicada” on Bandcamp and pick up The Boat of the Fragile Mind on their Bandcamp page or iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic. - The Revue

Recorded at legendary Electric Lady Studios, Brooklyn-based duo Belle Mare's untitled debut full-length (due next year) will stand in contrast to Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone's home-recorded EP The Boat of the Fragile Mind. Bushell and Servidone released "Cicada," the first single from the album, in February this year, with a stunning video directed by documentarian Nicole Mackinlay Hahn to follow. Here are pleased to premiere the album's second single, "The Dark of My Evening."

"‘Dark of My Evening' was inspired by someone I couldn't let go of for what felt like a long time," Bushell tells us. "I would be out having fun, but I would eventually start daydreaming about reuniting with this person. There would always be this lingering sense of loss that could turn my mood right around."



Bushell's haunting and lofty vocals aptly sing, "When I go out I'm alone ... Didn't ever think I'd go out just to show how / I can never be alone in my bedroom now... You're the dark of my evening," over a mellow, dream-pop soundscape. Most often Bushell and Servidone share the songwriting process, typically starting and finishing within the duo's apartments. "Dark of My Evening," however, began in the studio. After experimenting at Electric Lady ("From the minute you walk into that place, you feel as though you've stepped into a musician's Disneyland," Bushell says) with keyboardist Tara Rook, Servidone fleshed out the arrangement and brought it to Bushell, who then wrote the lyrics while the pair sat at her kitchen table. "It came together very naturally," Servidone explains. "We had a great time, and I think that's part of the magic of [Electric Lady]—it makes you shed every anxiety you have."

Since the release of The Boat of the Fragile Mind in 2014, Belle Mare has developed relationships with mentors, constantly learning about the inner functions of the music industry, and the two have also grown more confident in their pursuits. "I've become comfortable with releasing songs. When we released the first EP I couldn't stop crying because I was so embarrassed about exposing my inner struggles," Bushell admits. "Now I feel confident, because it feels worth it to be publicly vulnerable even if only a handful of people are affected by a song of ours." - Interview Magazine