Marsheaux is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

synthpop duo formed in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

in 2003. The group is composed of

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

s and

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...

s Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou. The name Marsheaux is derived from the first syllable of each band member's name. Both members sing almost exclusively in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Andy McCluskey George Andrew McCluskey (born 24 June 1959) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist of the electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which he founded a ...

of OMD said about this band: "I do have a soft spot for Marsheaux I have to say. They have a certain sort of wispy, melancholic charm".

History

Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou were born in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. In 2000, they moved to

and founded Marsheaux in 2003 to further their appreciation of electronic pop music. In 2015, they explained to a music blog called AZLTRON the origin of the band: "We were at a Depeche Mode party in Athens 12 years ago, and the guys from Undo Records told us that we can only play Depeche Mode themes in our synths. So we decided to form a band and make a track for a compilation they were working on, called ''Nu Romantics''. We did a cover of Gershon Kingsley's "Popcorn", we found a name, and won the bet. We are very glad we won the bet cause if we hadn't, we would have to clean their warehouse and keep it clean for a whole year". Marsheaux came to national prominence in Greece with their debut single, a cover of

Gershon Kingsley Gershon Kingsley (born Götz Gustav Ksinski; October 28, 1922 – December 10, 2019) was a German-American composer, a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer, a partner in the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, founde ...

's " Popcorn". The single received extensive airplay in Greece and mainland

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. They continued to gain international recognition for their remixes of "Will I Ever" by In Vox featuring Andy Bell of

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

. Now signed to Undo Records, Marsheaux released their debut album ''

E-Bay Queen E-Bay Queen is the debut studio album recorded in English by Greek female synthpop duo Marsheaux. It was released in Greece on 30 June 2004 by Undo Records. ''E-Bay Queen'' is an Electronica album and is comparable in style to The Human League a ...

'' in June 2004. The album played heavily on Marsheaux's stated influences of

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Co ...

, New Order,

, Yazoo and Depeche Mode. ''E-Bay Queen'' was critically well received internationally. In December 2006, Undo Records released Sophie and Marianthi's follow up album ''

Peekaboo Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a form of play played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says ''Peekaboo!'', sometimes followed by ''I see you!'' There are many variations: for ...

''. The album included two covers, "

Regret Regret is the emotion of wishing one had made a different decision in the past, because the consequences of the decision were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decision, in regard ...

" by New Order and " The Promise" by When in Rome. The site Electronically Yours rated it "Album of the Year 2007". The single "Hanging On" was released in 2007. As well as recording original material, Marsheaux also remixed existing tracks of artists such as Moby, Depeche Mode,

Sakis Rouvas Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas ( el, Αναστάσιος "Σάκης" Ρουβάς, ; born 5 January 1972), also known mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek singer, film and television actor, businessman and former pole vaulter and model. Born in Co ...

, Gwen Stefani and

Hurts Hurts are an English musical duo formed in Manchester in 2009, consisting of singer Theo Hutchcraft and multi-instrumentalist Adam Anderson. They have released five studio albums: ''Happiness'' (2010), ''Exile'' (2013), ''Surrender'' (2015), ' ...

. In 2008, Marsheaux recorded a version of the song "She's Leaving" by OMD. They also issued the limited 7" vinyl "Ghost", which included the B-side "Bizarre Love Duo". In July 2009, the band released their third album, '' Lumineux Noir,'' at Undo Records/Out of Line. The album was issued in two versions: the Standard edition with 13 tracks and the Limited edition that included a bonus disc with remixes and a new song. According to the Side-Line magazine, it did not "bring an evolution in sound, but shows a growing maturity in songwriting and production". It is reminiscent of 1980s synthpop with tracks that have been compared to

Ladytron Ladytron are a largely British electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Reuben Wu (synth ...

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...

and

Client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuabl ...

. Two singles supported the album: "Breakthrough" and "Summer". In May 2011, Marsheaux released a new song, "Can You Stop Me?". In May 2012, the band issued the compilation of mostly unreleased material and rare songs, '' E-Bay Queen is Dead''. A fourth album, ''Inhale'', followed in 2013, along with a compilation drawn from all four studio albums, ''Odyssey''. In 2015, Marsheaux released their fifth studio album ''A Broken Frame'', a cover album of Depeche Mode's 1982 LP of the same name. It has been seen as faithful to the original but with an updated sound, including some darker and slower interpretations of tracks like "

The Meaning of Love "The Meaning of Love" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode from their second studio album, ''A Broken Frame'' (1982). It was released on 26 April 1982 as the album's second single. Background The single version of "The Mean ...

" and "A Photograph of You" as well as a

trip-hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos ...

version of "Shouldn’t Have Done That". In May 2016, Marsheaux released a new single "Safe Tonight", that includes original and extended versions of the song and remixes by Nikonn and

Fotonovela Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

. This single is from their sixth studio album ''Ath.Lon'', released on 16 June 2016.

Touring

Marsheaux performed live at various festivals including Infest, Pluswelt, Amphi and

Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange ...

. The duo also played support slots for OMD and Róisín Murphy in

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Both band members have regular guest DJ slots in clubs in

Equipment

As well as being vocalists, both musicians are skilled multi-instrumentalists. Marianthi plays Microkorg, Minimoog, Roland SH101, Speak & Math and Yamaha CS01. Sophie plays Microkorg,

Korg MS-10 , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, the ...

, Roland Alpha Juno2,

Akai AX80 The AX80 is a polyphonic analogue keyboard synthesizer manufactured by Akai Professional in 1984. (archived on HollowSun.com) It was Akai's first venture into the professional electronic musical instrument market. The AX80 used digitally cont ...

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store thei ...

, and

Kurzweil K2000 The Kurzweil K2000 is a digital synthesizer and music workstation produced by Kurzweil Music Systems between 1991 and 2000 in a variety of standard configurations, including rack-mountable versions and models that came with 16-bit user sampling. ...

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (2004) *''

'' (2006) *'' Lumineux Noir'' (2009) *''

Inhale Inhalation (or Inspiration) happens when air or other gases enter the lungs. Inhalation of air Inhalation of air, as part of the cycle of breathing, is a vital process for all human life. The process is autonomic (though there are exceptions ...

'' (2013) *''

A Broken Frame ''A Broken Frame'' is the second studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 27 September 1982 by Mute Records. The album was written entirely by Martin Gore and was recorded as a trio after the departure of Vince C ...

''/''An Extended Broken Frame'' (2015) *'' Ath.Lon'' (2016)

Compilations

*'' E-Bay Queen is Dead'' (2012) *''Odyssey'' (2013) *''Our Girls on Film'' (2018) *''Inhale'' (2019) *''Alternatives'' (2020)

Singles

*" Popcorn" (Undo Records, 2003) *"Hanging On" (Undo Records, 2007) *"Ghost" (limited 7", Undo Records, 2008) *"Breakthrough" (Undo Records, 2009) *"Summer" (Out of Line, 2009) *"Safe Tonight" (Undo Records, 2016) *"Home" (2019)

Other releases

*2005 – " New Life" by Depeche Mode covered on the tribute compilation album ''Around the World and Back: A Greek Tribute To Depeche Mode'', released 21 March 2005 on Undo Records. * 2007 – " Empire State Human" covered and released 4 March 2007 as a free download to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of

. * 2007 – Remix of the song "A Dark City's Night" from the German synthpop duo Portash (located on Portash's album ''Framed Lives''). * 2007 – Remix of the song "It's Not Over" from the British electropop group

. * 2008 – Remix of the song "Perfect Girl" from the British electropop group The Ultrasonics, released 25 August 2008. * 2015 - "We Met Bernard Sumner at a Christmas Party Last Night" released on the compilation album ''Ghosts of Christmas Past (Remake)'' * 2017 – ''Get The Balance Right'' limited edition EP released on Undo Records

Music videos

*"Popcorn" *"Pure" *"Hanging On" *"Breakthrough" *"Summer" *"Can You Stop Me?" *"Inhale" *"Monument" *"Safe Tonight" *"Like A Movie" *"Now You Are Mine" *"To The End"

References

External links

Official website

Band profile on Discogs
{{Authority control Greek pop music groups Greek electronic music groups Greek musical duos Electronic music duos Musical groups from Athens Women in electronic music Greek synthpop groups Female musical duos