Marybell Katastrophy

biography

It all started with two cool DIY EP's, and now - in the summer of 2009 - the band have just grabbed the prestigious 'Band Of The Year' award at the Danish Music Critics' Award show, and in May they did a brief tour of Germany as special guests to Bat For Lashes.

When Marybell Katastrophy released their debut; the 5-song EP This is The One in December 2007, it was already one of the most buzzed and hyped bands in their native Denmark. Marybell Katastrophy had played big festivals such as the Roskilde Festival in July 2007 and the grand opening show at the Spot Festival (Danish answer to South By Southwest) in June 2007 - according to major Danish paper Politiken, this show was a "concert revelation".

In a mix between the gentle and the explosive, alternative/electronic act Marybell Katastrophy has found their niche. It might be electro-pop, but not as we (usually) know it.. Their music is to be found somewhere in the landscape between Johannes Brahms, Pixies and David Bowie. (Well, add a lot of weird sounds and electro-feel, and it's true!) Being quite difficult to describe, critics have compared the sound of Marybell Katastrophy to everything from The Bangles on acid, to Kate Bush turned upside down. (sic!)

This is The One got rave reviews in the media, many declaring Marybell Katastrophy 'the best new band in Denmark'. It was released on two formats: 10-inch hand-numbered vinyl, limited to 500 copies, decorated by friends, family, local artists, children and. yeah, basically whoever came along (in other words: not a single artwork looked the same). And on download, initially only from marybell.dk where buyers can decide the price themselves.

A new 5-song EP followed in March 2008. You Are The Two - available on the same two formats (nope, still no CD..). This time the 10" vinyl sleeves was decorated in an all-500-at-once graffiti event as a huge 40 m2 big painting.. Again the reviews were amazing - 5 out of 6 in the three biggest daily papers, and in the major music magazine too.

The debut full-length album - The More - followed on 24 November 2008. 15 songs, showing the wonderful, experimenting, playful and distorted world of Marybell. And again the critics loved it. According to major papers Information and Urban, The More was 'album of the year' in Denmark. The Danish National Radio nominated Marybell Katastrophy as 'Experiment Of The Year', in their 'P3 Gold' award show.

Marybell is basically a duo, consisting of Marie Højlund (ex. Tiger Tunes) and Emil Thomsen (Schweppenhäuser), but on stage they're usually aided by 3 - 5 musicians.

They have previously toured Germany, France, England and Ireland. Next step is the release of The More throughout Europe and Asia in October, and a tour of Europe in November + December 2009.

releases

  • Marybell Katastrophy - The More (2009)
  • Marybell Katastrophy - You Are The Two 10" (2008)
  • Marybell Katastrophy - This Is The One 10" (2007)
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