Frederikke Hoffmeier (born 1989), better known by her stage name Puce Mary, is a Danish

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

musician, composer and sound artist.

Biography

Frederikke Hoffmeier was born in 1989 in Denmark. She started her career in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, Popular music, mainstream popular music culture. Underground styles lack the commercial success of popular music movements, and may involve the use of avant-g ...

scene, performing with bands such as Timeless Reality, Body Sculptures (with VargT2M and Erik Enocksson. Her debut release under the name Puce Mary, ''Piss Flowers'', was issued in cassette format in 2010. During this time, Hoffmeier collaborated with Loke Rahbek, also known as Croatian Amor, on multiple cassette-only releases. Her debut full-length album, ''Success'', was released in 2013 on Posh Isolation record label. The record was followed up by 2014's ''Persona''. Around this time, she obtained residency at EMS, a state-funded experimental music studio in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden. In 2015, Hoffmeier collaborated with Rahbek on the full-length release, ''The Female Form''. The following year saw the release of her fourth solo studio album, ''The Spiral''. Her 2018 album, '' The Drought'', was released on Berlin-based record label PAN and received positive reviews from publications such as ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'',

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

and

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

. In the same year, she contributed to the track "Hope in Suffering (Escaping Oblivion & Overcoming Powerlessness)" by

Yves Tumor Sean Lee Bowie (born February 14, 1990), best known by the recording alias Yves Tumor, is an American musician and producer of experimental music, born in Miami, Florida, and currently based in Turin, Italy. To date, they have released fiv ...

, released on their album ''

Safe in the Hands of Love ''Safe in the Hands of Love'' is the third studio album by American experimental electronic music artist Yves Tumor. It was released on September 5, 2018 by Warp Records. Release Tumor released "Noid" as the first single from the album on July 2 ...

''. At live performances following the release of ''The Spiral'', Hoffmeier has collaborated with

Drew McDowall Drew McDowall is a Scottish NYC based composer and musician. He was a member of Coil in the 1990s contributing heavily to some of their most respected and influential works. As well as his solo work he has collaborated with Kali Malone, Cateri ...

of Coil. In 2020, she scored the film ''Kød & Blod'', which was directed by Jeanette Nordahl. It premiered at the Berlinale. In 2024, she scored ''

The Girl with the Needle ''The Girl with the Needle'' () is a 2024 Danish Gothic historical psychological horror film directed by Magnus von Horn, from a screenplay written by von Horn and Line Langebek. Set in 1919, the film stars Vic Carmen Sonne as a young woman who ...

'', a Polish/Danish produced feature film which premiered at Cannes. She won the Excellence price for European Original Score at the

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mos ...

and Best Music at the

Polish Film Festival The Gdynia Film Festival aka FPFF (until 2011: Polish Film Festival, Polish: ''Festiwal Polskich Filmów Fabularnych w Gdyni'') is an annual film festival first held in Gdańsk (1974–1986), now held in Gdynia, Poland. It has taken place every ...

. Hoffmeier resides in Copenhagen.

Musical style

Puce Mary's musical styles has been described as

power electronics Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power. The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves. In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconduct ...

and

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

. According to Colin Joyce of ''Pitchfork'', "grating percussive scraping and nail-on-chalkboard vocalizations dominate her offmeier'screeping compositions, even as her instrumental work runs the gamut from deafening drones to clattering industrial drum beats." ''Pitchfork'' contributor Louis Pattison has noted that ''The Female Form'', her collaboration with Loke Rahbek, "lingers on the threshold between gritty basement industrial and the rarified field of electroacoustic composition," while operating on the themes of "intimacy, communication, sexuality and

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

." On her fourth record ''The Drought'', Bob Cluness of The Quietus stated that: "Hoffmeier uses genre motifs of noise and industrial music here, not so much to bombard the listener with adolescent fantasies of power, transgression and provocation, but instead to look at such violence as possessing empathy based on action and transformation." Puce Mary's live performances often stray away from the prerecorded material. On her musical workflow, she has emphasised "having a controlled set of variables and a system that is able to bear reproducible results." Likening her recording process to "a regenerated organ or an

organ transplant Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ (anatomy), organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or org ...

," she states: "I want the chaos implied by this to be legible to the listener so when a rhythm is guiding their ears along a piece of music, they are not carried away and are very much aware that a single tone, a single beat, can stop that sound and time completely." Hoffmeier has cited

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

and real-life soundscapes as influences outside the industrial sounds.

Discography

;Full-length releases *''Success'' (2013) *''Persona'' (2014) *''The Spiral'' (2016) *'' The Drought'' (2018) ;Collaborative full-length releases *''The Closed Room'' (2011; with Loke Rahbek) *''An Exploitative Version of Surrogacy'' (2019; with Francesco Leali, Heith and Alessandro Branca) ;EPs and cassette releases *''Piss Flowers'' (2010) *''Lucia'' (2011; with Loke Rahbek) *''Rubber Therapy'' (2012) *''Ultimate Hypocrisy'' (2013) *''The Viewer'' (2014) *''The Great Panic'' (2014) *''Masks Are Aids'' (2014; with Sewer Election) *''Fear and Pleasure'' (2014) *''PM/RS'' (2014; with Rodger Stella) *''Yours'' (2016) *''Sleep'' (2018) ;Singles *"Red Desert" (2018) *"Caressing the Sun" (2019) ;As Frederikke Hoffmeier *''Den blege grå tone'' (2012; with Sewer Election) *''Aska'' (2013; with Sewer Election) ;As Amphetamine Logic * ''Nostalgia Without Memory'' (2010) * ''The Echoes of the Gestapo Cellar'' (2013; with Jan Warnke, Michael Esposito and Fantom Auditory Operations)

References

External links

* {{authority control Living people 1989 births Musicians from Copenhagen Danish women musicians Experimental musicians Industrial musicians Noise musicians Danish electronic musicians Women in electronic music Danish women composers Danish expatriates in the United States Danish film score composers 21st-century Danish composers Women sound artists Avant-garde composers Avant-garde musicians Power electronics musicians PAN (record label) artists European Film Awards winners (people)