Mar’s debut album, The Silence, featured Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf and Black Heart Procession and Samuli Kosminen of MúM and was recorded in Iceland in the thick of Sigur Ros’ Takk… Sessions.

The new album, The Sound, was recorded in a backwards Arkansas cabin — just a trifle different atmosphere, really. Guest appearances by Bright Eyes’ violinist Anton Patzner and cellist Zoe Keating of Imogen Heap add strong string elements to an already rich layered sonicism.

Mar : “Icarus” (mp3)

Mar : “Mother Star Sun” (mp3)

Although The Sound has been in the U.S. since September, the album dropped in Europe for the first time last week.