Amalie Bruun (born 6 January 1985) is a Danish musician, actress and model. She is the leader of the one-person black metal project

Myrkur Myrkur is a Danish black metal band led by singer Amalie Bruun. Myrkur is a solo project within the genre of second-wave black metal. Initially, the real-life identity of the person behind the project was kept unknown. Her identity has since be ...

and the former lead singer of the indie pop band Ex Cops, which was active from 2011 to 2014. Bruun's identity as Myrkur was initially anonymous.

Career

Music

Amalie Bruun released her debut album in 2006. She wrote the record with her father Michael Bruun. She is a pianist and guitarist and also writes songs with other composers, including Moh Denebi. In 2008, she created the title song for the reality show ''

Paradise Hotel ''Paradise Hotel'' is an American reality television program. In the show, a group of singles live in a luxurious hotel resort, competing to see who can stay in the hotel the longest. Each week, the contestants pair off into couples, and must sh ...

'', entitled "If You Give It Up". Amalie Bruun moved to New York later in 2008 and won the New York Songwriters Circle international award. In 2010 she released the EP ''Branches,'' which was recorded at Pirate Studios in New York in partnership with Watt White. She began modeling, starring in a

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

-directed

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...

advertisement and the music video for

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The three ...

's 2011 song "

Jack Sparrow Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the '' Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series. The character was created by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and is portrayed by Johnny Depp. The characte ...

" featuring

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

. In spring 2012 she released the single "Siren", written and produced in collaboration with Mark Saunders on A:Larm Music. In 2013, Amalie also appeared on

R.A. the Rugged Man R.A. Thorburn, better known by his stage name R.A. the Rugged Man, is an American rapper and producer. He began his music career at age 12, building a reputation locally for his lyrical skills. Thorburn signed with major label Jive Records at ...

's album '' Legends Never Die'', providing background and chorus vocals for track 3, "Definition of a Rap Flow". Both Ex Cops and Myrkur have garnered Bruun critical acclaim from publications including ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'', ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'', and

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

. Bruun has also appeared with Myrkur and Ex Cops at renowned music festivals such as

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

in Denmark,

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...

in Germany and

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in Texas. In 2022, Bruun provided vocals for the score of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' Vikings: Valhalla''.

Ex Cops (2011–2014)

Bruun formed the indie pop band Ex Cops in 2011 as a duo with Brian Harding. The band drew comparisons to music released on

Sarah Records Sarah Records was a British independent record label active in Bristol between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop, which it released mostly on 7" singles. On reaching the catalogue number SARAH 100, the label celebrated it ...

and

Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringin ...

. Ex Cops released two albums: 2013's ''True Hallucinations'' and 2014's ''Daggers''. ''Daggers'' was produced and co-written by

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...

lead singer

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...

, and featured guest appearances from singers

Ariel Pink Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi music, lo-fi aesthetic and home ...

and LP. Ex Cops broke up in 2014, with Bruun remaining on good terms with Harding.

Myrkur (2014–present)

A self-professed "

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

girl at heart", Bruun was revealed to be the writer, performer and producer of

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

black metal project

in 2014. The project's name comes from the Icelandic word for darkness. Bruun became a black metal fan after listening to

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

's ''

Transilvanian Hunger ''Transilvanian Hunger'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone. It was released 17 February 1994 by Peaceville Records. Recording ''Transilvanian Hunger'' was the first Darkthrone album to be recorded as a duo (N ...

'' album for the first time. She released a self-titled EP under anonymity before she revealed her identity in September 2014. Her debut album under the Myrkur moniker, ''M'', was produced by

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album '' Bergtatt'', were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band h ...

frontman

Kristoffer Rygg Kristoffer Rygg (born 9 September 1976), also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a heavy-metal vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar. Biography Born in Oslo but raised i ...

and featured members of

Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dra ...

Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharist. ...

and

Satyricon The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petro ...

in her backing band. Bruun received a torrent of sexist backlash from metal fans after beginning the Myrkur project, at one point deactivating her Facebook account because of endless death threats. She released her second album as Myrkur, ''

Mareridt ''Mareridt'' (Danish for "Nightmare") is the second studio album by Myrkur, the black metal project of Danish musician and singer-songwriter Amalie Bruun. The album was released on 15 September 2017 through Relapse Records. Mareridt was recorded ...

'', in 2017. With her third album ''Folkesange'', released in 2020, Bruun shifted from black metal to making traditional Scandinavian folk music. Bruun also appeared on the EP ''The Alchemy Project'' by the Dutch symphonic metal band

Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...

, on the song "Sirens – Of Blood and Water", alongside

Charlotte Wessels Johanna Charlotte Wessels (born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as the former lead vocalist for the Dutch symphonic metal band Delain. Background Wessels has been trained in both jazz singi ...

. A music video for this song was released on 11 November 2022.

Personal life

In 2018, Bruun married the American drummer and personal trainer Keith Abrami, known for playing drums in

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

bands Artificial Brain and Shredded. On 4 May 2019, Bruun announced via Instagram that she was expecting her first child. Bruun gave birth to her son Otto on 21 September 2019. Bruun formerly dated Brian Harding, the other half of the indie pop duo Ex Cops. Bruun is daughter of the Danish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Michael Bruun and has two brothers, William and Jonas.

Discography

As Amalie Bruun * ''Amalie Bruun'' (2006) * ''Housecat'' (EP) (2008) * ''Branches'' (EP) (2010) * ''Crush'' (EP) (2012) With Ex Cops * ''True Hallucinations'' (LP) (2013) * ''Daggers'' (LP) (2014) As Myrkur * ''

'' (EP) (2014) * '' M'' (2015) * ''

Mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

'' (Live album) (2016) * ''

'' (2017) * '' Folkesange'' (2020)

References

External links

Official Website

Myrkur Official Website

Ex Cops Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruun, Amalie 1985 births Living people 21st-century Danish actresses Danish women singer-songwriters Musicians from Copenhagen Actresses from Copenhagen Danish heavy metal guitarists Danish heavy metal singers Danish pop musicians Danish sopranos Women heavy metal singers Danish female models 21st-century Danish women singers 21st-century guitarists 21st-century women guitarists