Marine Eyes : To Belong

The eloquent, hushed sound world of Cynthia Bernard, aka Marine Eyes, is one of mystery and ethereal soundscapes. Combining heavily-effected guitar, subtle synthesizers, and her own layered vocals, Bernard creates records of dream-like beauty and crystalline visions. Her ambient recordings are not unlike stepping into another world, one built from a foundation of longing for inner peace through circuital exploration. And also the desire to connect via sound and feel; whispered voice, swelling melodies, and raw emotion building a bridge from one soul to the other.

The latest album from Marine Eyes, to belong, is Bernard’s second release with Past Inside The Present and third solo album overall. Following 2022’s exquisite Chamomile, to belong sees Bernard and Marine Eyes touching on ambient, new age, and even pastoral folk at times. An album that capture the feeling of looking for identity, the comfort of being in the presence of like-minded souls, and, well, a place to belong.

i set out with my own
puzzle pieces, my own
cracked pottery and
created a patchwork sky

these are all parts which
teach me belonging is
everywhere and nowhere

These are the words Bernard wrote down in a journal that acted as a starting off point with to belong. A mission statement, a foundational point to where Marine Eyes began the journey of to belong. Touching on everything from Suzanne Ciani to Vangelis to Auburn Lull – as well as using field recordings to add a tactile, organic quality – to belong is a slow motion bloom to a kind of personal enlightenment.

The nearly 50 minutes of music here is subtle, evocative, and emotionally engaging. Whether it’s the slow motion contemplation of title track “to belong” or the beautifully sublime “mended down” touched with ethereal vocals, or the evocative swells of “night palms sway”, Cynthia Bernard makes masterful use of sparse compositions and the spaces between the ghostly melodies. The songs feel like intermissions between dreams; basking in the warmth of otherworldly familiarity as those visions become memories of what never was.

There’s so much depth on to belong. These are subtle gestures that emanate so much warmth and light. Fourteen compositions that feel organic and from the earth. Guitar, keys, and voice indistinguishable from another become something wholly unique and singular, like a sigh from another place reaching our ears after a long and evocative journey. Cynthia Bernard, aka Marine Eyes, locks into a kind of universal hum and invites us to go on this journey with her. To belong.