[House] Maribou State – Wallflower (Lane 8 Remix)

Maribou State
Wallflower (Lane 8 Remix)

Maribou State and Lane 8 both put out stellar debut albums this year and, while they both carry a house tempo, each presents its own distinct collection of sounds. While Maribou State brought us airy, ethereal and unconventional sonic elements, Lane 8 crafted a beautiful crossover that melded house, trance and indie pop vocals for a delightful listen from start to finish. As pioneers in their own spaces, it’s little surprise that there’s immense respect between the two.

Last week, Lane 8 let loose a remix of one of our favorites from Maribou State’s Portraits, “Wallflower.” The original is a gorgeous, deeply textured and relaxing cut that truly engulfs the listener with its beauty. Lane 8’s take, however, adds a heavy bass line that inverts the graceful subtlety of “Wallflower” transforming it into a dance-floor ready, trance-leaning cut that’s absolutely irresistible–in some ways bringing to mind the groove in his phenomenal remix of Odesza’s “Bloom.”

This one’s equal parts relaxing and party-starting. Give it a listen above and grab a copy here.

P.S. Make sure to read our interviews with both Lane 8 and Maribou State at those links.

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[TMN Exclusive Interview] Maribou State Talk their Musical Evolution and the Making of ‘Portraits’

’Maribou State – Wallflower’

UK production duo Maribou State have had a fascinating musical journey starting as a high school band who evolved into accomplished DJs and, more recently, coming full circle with their newly revealed fully live setup. Building on countless influences along the way, they have undoubtedly established a lane all their own as they prepare for the release of their debut album. It’s no accident that Maribou State have hit their stride lately–they’ve, quite literally, been building and fine-tuning for years. Recorded and engineered in a home studio that they assembled themselves, their output thus far, “Wallflower” being the most recent, balances electronic and live instrumentation blurring lines between dance and easy, trippy listening.

We had a chance to chat with Chris Davids and Liam Ivory, the long-time collaborators behind Maribou State, over the phone while they were on tour in Berlin and they went in-depth about their roots and the making of their upcoming debut, Portraits. Read it in their own words below. Portraits drops on June 2nd and can be pre-ordered here. You can also keep track of their upcoming tour dates at their website.

TMN: You guys have been on tour for a while now. How’s it going? 

Chris: Yeah, on and off. We’ve always kept the dates pretty regular. Good thing about DJing is you can go there on the weekends and play a set then come back and get in the studio. Now that the live band’s coming together and touring, it’s going to be more of a thing where we actually have to block out time. We’ve always played gigs most weekends since doing this. 

TMN: Have you unveiled the full live set in front of a crowd yet? 

Chris: We’ve only actually had two shows as a live act at the minute. One was in London and one was in Holland and we had that BBC performance. When we come back from Berlin in a few weeks, we’ve got some festival dates across Europe up until September. Then hopefully we should have a full tour come November.

TMN: So, backing up a bit, how did you first get into music? You both grow up outside of London, right?

Liam:  Yeah, we grew up in a place called Hartforshire which is about 25 minutes north of London. It’s close enough for us to get into the city but it’s really rural and excluded. I got into music, on the production side of things, when I was 16 or 17. I took music as a GSCE at school and one of the modules was to produce a piece of music. It kind of stemmed from there and I ended up doing it in college and further. 

TMN: And you both also played in bands prior to getting into production? 

Chris: Yeah, we both played in separate bands when we were like 15 in school. We eventually joined the same band that was originally full on guitar, bass and drums—there was no electronics involved in it. By the time I joined, we started using laptops and keyboards. From that up until what we’re doing now, we’ve stayed working with the same band. We moved in together and then carried on with that. We kept condensing it until it was just a laptop.

Liam: Now the band’s back!  Continue reading

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[Chill] Maribou State – The Clown (feat. Pedestrian)

Maribou State
The Clown (feat. Pedestrian)

Maribou State‘s debut album is quickly becoming one of our most anticipated of the summer. Building on an array of the UK’s finest electronic styles, the production duo feel like an organic progression from their roots. This may be more evident than ever on their smooth, emotional, Pedestrian-featuring latest single. “The Clown” builds around a grand piano melody that when combined with a falsetto brings James Blake to mind before a percussive-driven groove emerges. The house tempo bolsters the flawless vocals and combines with occasional warped synths that tie together the songs’s steadily developing structure. It’s a colorful tune that draws at your heart strings and gets your head nodding simultaneously. Vibe above–Maribou State’s Portraits drops June 2nd and is available for pre-order here.

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[Chill] Maribou State – Raincoats

Maribou State
Raincoats

Maribou State are quickly becoming one of the most intriguing acts in chilled-out electronic music composing compelling, emotional and organic tracks that have a way of mesmerizing listeners. The UK duo let loose another promising glimpse into their debut album yesterday with “Raincoats.” Built on a backbone of tribal drums and sparse guitar, the single builds into a steady house groove that melds with highly manipulated soulful vocal samples for an enchanting, ethereal bliss. It’s about as powerful and peaceful of an electronic song as you’ll hear.

“Raincoats” will be on Maribou State’s upcoming album, but is out today exclusively on vinyl as the bonus track for the 12″ release of their last single “Rituals”–you can pick up the physical record here. Maribou State’s debut, Portraits, is due out on June 2nd and can be pre-ordered now on iTunes.

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[Electronic] Maribou State- Rituals

Maribou State
Rituals

Maribou State has announced they will release their debut album Portraits on June 1st via Counter Records (a Ninja Tune imprint). Determined to deliver a more refined sound, the duo, Chris Davids and Liam Ivor, quietly grew stronger in recent years with incredible studio ethic and their lead single ‘Rituals’ showcases a fierce intent. It was first exposed by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 and has been praised for its rich and emotional texture. The album features longtime collaborator Pedestrian as well as vocalists Holly Walker and Jono McCleery. To promote Portraits in North America, Maribou State will be playing a handful of dates prior to the release. Itinerary below. ‘Rituals’ will be available digitally and on 12” vinyl on March 24th.

Thu. Apr. 16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Verboten (Cabaret Bar)
Fri. Apr. 17 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
Sat. Apr. 18 – Toronto, ON @ Studio Bar
Wed. Apr. 22 – Denver, Co @ 1Up on Colfax
Fri. Apr. 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Avalon Hollywood
Sat. Apr. 25 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl

Tickets Here

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