Track By Track: marine eyes – hidden hour

The title track opens on a late August day in the Los Padres forest, Marine Eyes in the sun with a journal, her husband James in a hammock in the shade. From there it moves through a rain-soaked tea hut on ‘Tea At Appian Creek’, fresh snow and a collaboration with Líom on ‘Natural Light (w/ Líom)’, and the stunted, centuries-old coast live oaks near Morro Bay on ‘Wild Roses’. Vultures circling a lake give ‘Messengers’ its name. ‘Golden Oak’, the first song written for the album, was recorded at sunrise beneath the tree that inspired Harold Budd, with a glockenspiel, a reverb-heavy bridge and some baby frogs for company. Tea returns on ‘Cloudwalkers’, Swedish artist Dimming (Linn Österberg) brings vocals and violin to ‘Fade Out’, and Oregon’s Silver Falls forest supplies the field recordings for ‘Amid Still Trees’, before ‘Sanctuary Found’ closes on one more mountain morning.

Here’s Marine Eyes on where each one came from.

Hidden Hour
This title song’s inspiration came from a day where my husband James and I were “alone together” in the mountains. We both had our own little creative spots set up looking out onto the open expanse of the Los Padres forest in late August of 2025. I took a lot of photos, journaled, soaked in the sun. James stayed in the shade on a hammock. When I came home I wrote this trying to capture the open expanse + the feeling that comes with spending a day entirely outdoors allowing the sunlight to shift and just be.

Tea At Appian Creek
Tea ceremony and tea as medicine became a large inspiration of this album. This was written at my friend’s tea hut tucked away in the Mendocino redwood forest just after it rained in winter, the sun just starting to peek through.

Natural Light (w/ Líom)
This was started on another early morning wandering out on the mountains, this time alone. It had just snowed and there was so much light coming through every part of the mountains. I knew I wanted to invite Líom, an ambient artist I have loved for many years now, to collaborate on the record. She is a huge part of the inspiration of the song.

Smaller Stars
This song was inspired by an extra star-filled mountain night sky and relates to the first feelings of warmth in the air after a cold spring. Would love for anyone to try listening while sky-watching.

Wild Roses
Started close to Morro Bay after a walk at the Elfin Forest and Sweet Springs area. This area is home to coast live oaks that have their growth stunted by the local environment. Even though they are centuries old, some of these oaks only grow to be 4 feet near the tallest ridge line. The song had a second stage, with the final mix taking shape while settling into the cabin we have been spending time at while the wild roses bloomed in the mountains.

Messengers
I started this song for another sunrise at a lake north of my house just after Labor Day 2025. I had been there before but not to the parts of the lake where I sat that day. I kept watching vultures overhead, the glimmers on the water, taking photos, and wasn’t entirely convinced inspiration was there until I got home and started working on the musical ideas of the track. The track is named Messengers for the vultures who felt like they were giving me a creative push that day.

Count On These Mountains
Originally called Dreams In Which The Day Passes Slowly, this song was written at the mountain cabin, April 8 of this year. I took the morning to just work on a song and was staring at pine trees while creating, slowly letting things unfold. I used a lot of lap steel through pedals, sounds of the quiet mountain evening I had captured the night before, and subtle vocals where you can hear me softly singing “I can count on these mountains.”

Tidal Phase
The ocean-inspired song on the album, written after a sunset silent walking meditation at a beach in Ventura.

Autumn Interlude
Written in one sitting after staring at a bunch of bright yellow fall trees. Just guitar and voice, and added warble. Key inspiration is the coming of fall and the colour yellow.

Golden Oak
This is the first song I wrote on the album, July 2 2025, recorded at sunrise. Me and my glockenspiel on a little mecca to go walk and see the Oak of the Golden Dream, the tree that inspired Harold Budd’s song. I watched the sunrise through the tree and then set up below a bridge that had the most beautiful reverb, and little baby frogs were hopping around… and I was smiling ear to ear.

Cloudwalkers
Originally titled Elevation, this is another song inspired by tea, and tea as medicine. I wrote it after drinking a few bowls alone in silence in the early morning.

Feel Steps Slow
Written in October 2025. The first song written at the cabin, on our first night there for a weekend rental. We went on a hike at one of our favourite local trails and that is where the field recordings come from. My little piccolo guitar is a huge inspiration for the song too. It is the sound that started the song.

How Long Sunrise
This is from a sunrise at O’Melveny Park. I walked to the top of a lookout point and felt the cool of the morning even though it was July in Southern California. I then went to a cafe with the pocket piano to create ideas from the inspiration. I used sunrise sounds from the top of the hill lookout point, a lot of guitar, vocals, and pocket piano textures. I was experiencing a heavy day with a loved one and her health that day, so I was singing this a bit like a dream pop lullaby, “how long” would she feel this way. I was hoping writing this would act like an elixir to shift things.

Fade Out
This track started with the incredible Swedish artist Dimming (Linn Österberg) and I talking about writing a song together. Dimming took the lead with the main vocal part, field recordings and violin, and I went from there adding acoustic guitar, stretched vox, more field recordings. Linn’s voice and the words hit a lot – I never thought it would fade out like that, friendships/situations changing. Truly a collaborative song. This was written in May of this year.

Of Enough Time
I wrote this song July 1st of this year. I was sitting in the forest sun after writing the instrumental portion of the song and words came to me. A few nights before I was watching moonlight shadows on the house and had felt like things had been moving a bit too quickly for a few weeks, so wrote this song as a reminder to slow down.

Little House
This song is inspired by the mountain house we have been lucky enough to spend time at lately and the feeling of waking up early in the mountains. This is the only song on the album I used a mandolin on, so that inspired it too.

Amid Still Trees
I used field recordings from Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park forest in April of this year while on an early morning hike. This song is all guitar and some synth bells, a little forest lullaby.

Sanctuary Found
Another song inspired by a mountain morning. An ode to being content just where you are.