The February 2011 release of The Big Blue Marble marks a leap forward in the evolution of one of New Orleans' most accomplished indie rock bands. Recorded in late 2010, the album is Big Blue Marble's first release since 2007's critically acclaimed Natchez. Featuring a leaner, more muscular sound than the band's previous releases, The Big Blue Marble is a fast, rocking ride through nine new original songs with irresistible melodies, soaring guitars, and bombastic drums and bass. Recorded on vintage analog equipment at the newly renovated Living Room Studio in Gretna, La., The Big Blue Marble fulfills the band's vision of creating an album that captures the dynamics, energy, and intensity of the band's live shows. As suggested by its simple title and relatively short playing time, The Big Blue Marble hearkens back to the days when rock albums were loud, fast, and unadorned by production tricks, digital effects, or gimmicky instrumentation. Still, singer-songwriter Dave Fera's plaintive vocals and deceptively simple lyrics create strong links to the band's previous albums and characteristic voice. The contributions of founding members Ike Aguilar (lead guitar) and Michael Blum (lap steel) will be readily identifiable among the band's long-time fans, and the rhythm section of Paul Chell (bass) and Mike Bradley (drums and percussion) propels the band forward amidst the layers of guitars that wash and careen overhead.
Formed in 2003, Big Blue Marble has long been recognized as a fresh, creative voice among original rock bands in Louisiana. Its early releases—the Scuba School EP (2004) and Stars in Suburbia full-length (2005)—drew praise from critics and fans alike, and the band was nominated for numerous locals awards. The Scuba School EP was named one of the 15 best local releases of 2004 by the Times-Picayune, and in 2005 the band won Off Beat magazine's award as Best Emerging Rock Band as well as Gambit Weekly's Big Easy Award for Best New or Emerging Group. While Hurricane Katrina led to the demise of many great New Orleans bands, Big Blue Marble soldiered on in the storm's wake with a new lineup, releasing their second full-length album (Natchez) in 2007. The success of Natchez led the band to bigger stages and venues, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Voodoo Fest, the French Quarter Festival, and the Gretna Heritage Festival. The band has continued to grow and evolve in recent years; one of the band's recent highlights include an appearance as the backing band for indie icon Daniel Johnston at the House of Blues. Big Blue Marble will play venues throughout South Louisiana during Spring and Summer 2011, and the band plans to return to the studio to begin work on a new album later in the year.
"Unsurprisingly, where Big Blue Marble differs most starkly from the aforementioned rock n’ roll clones is in its undeniably classy recording – devoid of artificially created texture or an adherence to the modern proclivity for lo-fidelity... The result is the band’s most solid – and subtly brilliant – album to date, and possibly one of the best rock records 2011 has offered up."
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"The Big Blue Marble, the band’s semi-self-titled third full length album has finally reduced to writing the bridge between indie and rock that they seemed intent on gapping over a year ago, though it also goes much further than that. As it turns out, the tunes that Big Blue Marble has been playing live recently are anything but straightforward. Instead, the band treats listeners to a host of new influences as it veers away from indie and toward the many varied subgenres of 1970s rock n’ roll."
After losing an entire rhythm section following Katrina, Big Blue Marble has evolved into much more than guitarist and lead vocalist Dave Fera might have initially envisioned. All but abandoning the group’s country folk roots, the new dynamic of the reformed BBM is an aesthetic gamut of rock sub-genres too cliché to list, but all in all, they are crowd-pleasing, inventive, and meticulous without pretentiousness or emulation of 'just another alt-rock band.'"