Marsheaux is a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

duo formed in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in 2003. The group is composed of

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates 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 genre and film scoring. ...

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 instru ...

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.

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 ...

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 (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. 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 Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

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, found ...

's "

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

". The single received extensive airplay in Greece and mainland

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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

Erasure Erasure may refer to: Arts and media * Erasure (duo), an English pop group * ''Erasure'' (album), 1995, by the British group Erasure * Erasure poetry, a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text * ''Erasure'' (novel), ...

. Now signed to Undo Records, Marsheaux released their debut album '' E-Bay Queen'' 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 music, electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their t ...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

, New Order,

, Yazoo and

. ''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 one did make were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decisi ...

" 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 Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

Sakis Rouvas Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas (, ; born 5 January 1972), also known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Sakis, is a Greeks, Greek singer, actor, businessman and former pole vaulter. Born in Corfu, Rouvas won medals with Greece's U18 and U20 national sp ...

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

and

Hurts Hurts may refer to: * Pain, injury or suffering * Hurts (duo), British musical duo * Hurts (song), "Hurts" (song), by Emeli Sandé, 2016 * "Hurts", a song by Lany from ''LANY (album), LANY'', 2017 * "Hurts", a song by Mika from ''No Place in Heaven ...

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

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

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 valuable ...

. 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 An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'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, and the band's fifth overall. Released in ...

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

trip-hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

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 using 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 in ...

. 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 A ...

. The duo also played support slots for OMD and

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and record producer who first became known in the 1990s as one half of the Pop music, pop duo Moloko alongside the English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of M ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. 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 The microKORG is a MIDI-capable digital synthesizer/vocoder from Korg featuring Digital signal processing, DSP-based virtual analog, analog modelling. The synthesizer is built in such a way that it is essentially a Korg MS-2000 with a programmab ...

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

, Roland SH101, Speak & Math and Yamaha CS01. Sophie plays

Korg MS-10 The Korg MS-10 is an analogue synthesizer created by Korg in 1978. Unlike its bigger brother, the Korg MS-20, the MS-10 only has one VCO, one VCF and one envelope generator. It is monophonic and has 32 keys. The MS-10 is well known for its hu ...

Roland Alpha Juno The Roland Alpha Juno is a series of analog polyphonic synthesizers introduced by Roland Corporation in 1985. The Alpha Juno 1 and Alpha Juno 2 were released at the same time, and feature the same sound engine but with the latter boasting additio ...

2, Akai AX80,

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine manufactured by Roland Corporation that was released in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular b ...

, 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

*'' E-Bay Queen'' (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 Cl ...

''/''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

" (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

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

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 * 2018 –" Suffer the Children" by

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath in 1981 by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the synth-pop bands o ...

covered on a 2-CD various artists compilation album called ''The Electricity Club''. Released on 30 November 2018 on Amour Records,

Minos EMI Minos EMI is a record label, record company based in Athens, Greece. The company serves as the Greek record label and offices of the multinational Universal Music Group. EMI is credited for founding the record business in Greece in the 1930s, b ...

and 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 Greek synth-pop groups Female musical duos Greek all-female bands All-female electronic bands All-female pop bands