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Amor Fati is a Latin phrase with the literal meaning, “love [your] fate”. It encapsulates the Stoic philosophy, which espouses a calm acceptance of life’s up and downs.

If the event must occur, Amor fati (a love of fate) is the response. No looking backwards. Sideways. Only forward with a smile.

From an article in The Observer.

Marc Pelath, in the guise of The Laconic, has taken this as the theme for his latest album, Amor Fati. The first track plunges us into the heart of the subject with the unmistakable strains of the touch guitar.

What genre of music is this? Well, touch guitar strongly suggests a modern form of progressive rock. And, indeed, Marc lists among his influences Genesis, The Flower Kings and Yes. But there is also a clear connection with Mike Oldfield and the New Age fraternity on this track.

Marc likes to describe his compositions as “songs without words”. By this, I think he means that he usually writes 5- or 6-minute instrumentals, for which lyrics would be superfluous. On Amor Fati, though, he does throw in three tracks of around 2 minutes and one lasting more than 18 minutes – variations that might cause problems for a lyricist.

On his earlier records, as far as I can make out, Marc played all the instruments himself: touch guitar, bass, synths and electronic drums. For Amor Fati, he recruited a few guest musicians, notably keyboardist, Gary Husband, who features on Saber, and flautist, Aralee Dorough, on Equinox. Could it be coincidence that these are my favourite tracks on the album?

Both the artist and the album were new to me until I read a Rapid Review post on the Cirdecsongs blog just the other week. And it went down exceptionally well here. So, thanks, Ced for pointing me in this direction.

It’s hard to be stoical when life brings you a raw deal, but I love it when fate’s quivering finger brings unexpected pleasures like Amor Fati.