ML Buch
{{Short description|Danish musician and producer (born 1987)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = ML Buch
| image = ML Buch.jpg
| image_upright =
| image_size =
| landscape = no
| alt =
| caption = Buch performing at Elsewhere in Brooklyn, New York, 2024
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name = Marie Louise Buch
| alias =
| birth_date = 1980s
| origin = Copenhagen, Denmark
| death_date =
| death_place =
| genre = {{hlist|Dream pop|art rock|soft rock|electropop}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|singer|songwriter|composer|producer}}
| instrument = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar|keyboard}}
| years_active = 2017–present
| label = {{hlist|Anyines|In Real Life|15 Love}}
| current_member_of =
| past_member_of =
| website = {{URL|mlbuch.com}}
}}
Marie Louise Buch ({{IPAc-en|b|ʊ|k}}; born 1987){{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.mlbuch.com/about |website=ML Buch |access-date=23 June 2024}} is a Danish musician, composer, and producer. She released her debut album Skinned in 2020 and her sophomore album Suntub in 2023, both to critical acclaim.
Early life
Marie Louise Buch was raised in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark, by her mother, a fiddler and accordionist, and visited her father, a rock and roll guitarist, every other weekend.{{cite web |last1=Monroe |first1=Jazz |last2=Staal |first2=Stephanie |title=Step Inside ML Buch's Digitized Art-Pop Wilderness |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/rising/step-inside-ml-buchs-digitized-art-pop-wilderness/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=7 October 2020}} She was given the nickname "ML" by her grandfather, which she later adopted as her stage name, explaining that the name "creates a tiny distance, and I’m free to do what I like inside of that."{{cite web |last1=Hawthorne |first1=Katie |title=Golden Hour: ML Buch |url=https://crackmagazine.net/article/profiles/golden-hour-ml-buch/ |website=Crack |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=19 February 2024}}
Buch moved to Copenhagen as a child. When she was a child, her father introduced her to the music of The Beatles, Kris Kristofferson, and Bo Diddley, and she was especially drawn to Diddley's bandmate Peggy Jones, the first female guitarist she had seen. While learning to play guitar as a teenager, she was further influenced by Michael Jackson, the Metallica album S&M, and Danish bubblegum pop music.
She studied visual culture in college, later attending the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, where she studied composition.
Career
Buch's first release under the name ML Buch was her debut EP Fleshy in 2017, the same year she began studying at the conservatory.
She announced her debut album Skinned in early 2019, ultimately releasing it on 3 July 2020 on Anyines Records alongside music videos for five tracks.{{cite web |last1=Monroe |first1=Jazz |title=ML Buch Releases New Album Skinned, Shares Videos |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/ml-buch-releases-new-album-skinned-shares-videos-watch/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=3 July 2020}} The release was also accompanied by an album-length video depicting the inside of Buch's gastrointestinal tract, captured using a capsule endoscopy camera.{{cite web |last1=Buch |first1=ML |title=ML Buch – Skinned (full album) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ysOP33jJAg |website=YouTube |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=2 July 2020}} Skinned received critical acclaim, with Miles Bowe of Pitchfork summarizing: "In songs as slick and futuristic as the screens that surround us, the Danish electropop musician uses technology as a frame for deeply human feelings."{{cite web |last1=Bowe |first1=Miles |title=ML Buch: Skinned |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ml-buch-skinned/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=14 July 2020}}
Buch released the song "Fleshless Hand" on 26 November 2021 alongside a computer-generated imagery music video,{{cite web |last1=Monroe |first1=Jazz |title=Listen to ML Buch's New Song "Fleshless Hand" |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/listen-to-ml-buchs-new-song-fleshless-hand/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=26 November 2021}} followed by further singles "Well Bucket" and "Working It Out" in 2023. Buch released her sophomore album Suntub on 15 Love on 27 October 2023, five years after she began work on the project.{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Kaelen |title=ML Buch Made a Masterpiece of "Drifty Music" — Now She's Figuring Out What It Means {{!}} Exclaim! |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/ml_buch_interview_suntub |website=Exclaim! |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=en |date=2 November 2023}} She recorded the 15-track album over the course of three years in the coastal Danish city Kalundborg, recording vocals in her Peugeot SUV.{{cite web |last1=Gatward |first1=Tristan |title=ML Buch: "For about three years I went out and recorded the wind" |url=https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/ml-buch-for-about-three-years-i-went-out-and-recorded-the-wind/ |website=Loud and Quiet |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=7 February 2024}} Described by Stereogum as "an album about nature, about the human body, about physical experience",{{cite web |last1=Bromfield |first1=Daniel |title=The Virtual Natural Of ML Buch's 'Suntub' |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2246394/the-virtual-natural-of-ml-buchs-suntub/columns/sounding-board/ |website=Stereogum |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=en |date=29 December 2023}} Suntub received widespread praise from critics, appearing on several lists of best albums of 2023.{{cite web |last1=Cantalini |first1=Chris |title=Gorilla vs. Bear's Albums of 2023 |url=https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-albums-of-2023/ |website=Gorilla vs. Bear |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=en |date=30 November 2023}}{{cite magazine |last1=Renshaw |first1=David |title=The 10 Best Albums of 2023 |url=https://www.wired.com/story/best-albums-of-2023/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=26 December 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Hussain |first1=Shahzaib |title=Albums Of The Year 2023 |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/general/albums-of-the-year-2023/ |website=Clash |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=13 December 2023}}
Following the release of Suntub, Buch announced a double-billed tour with fellow Danish singer-songwriter Astrid Sonne in spring 2024,{{cite web |last1=Fell |first1=Annie |title=ML Buch and Astrid Sonne Take It to the Edge of "Too Much" |url=https://www.talkhouse.com/ml-buch-and-astrid-sonne-take-it-to-the-edge-of-too-much/ |website=Talkhouse |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=7 March 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Creely |first1=Joe |title=ML Buch & Astrid Sonne @ Flying Duck, Glasgow: gig review – The Skinny |url=https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/live-music/reviews/ml-buch-astrid-sonne-the-flying-duck-glasgow-2-mar |website=The Skinny |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=en |date=5 March 2024}} as well as a North American tour in summer 2024.{{cite web |last1=Hatfield |first1=Amanda |title=ML Buch announces North American tour |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/ml-buch-announces-north-american-tour/ |website=BrooklynVegan |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=4 March 2024}}
Style
ML Buch's music has been variously described as electropop, dream pop,{{cite web |last1=Ruder |first1=Alex |title=Midnight in a Perfect World: ML Buch |url=https://kexp.org/read/2024/1/16/midnight-in-a-perfect-world-ml-buch/ |website=KEXP |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=16 January 2024}} alt-rock,{{cite web |last1=Sherburne |first1=Philip |title=ML Buch: Suntub |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ml-buch-suntub/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=9 November 2023}} soft rock, art rock,{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Kaelen |title=Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2023 |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/exclaim_50_best_albums_of_2023 |website=Exclaim! |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=en |date=29 November 2023}} and psychedelic.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Austin |title=No Album Left Behind: ML Buch Steps Into the Light on Suntub |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/ml-buch/ml-buch-suntub-review |website=Paste |access-date=25 June 2024 |date=18 December 2023}} Kaelen Bell of Exclaim! remarked on the difficulty of classifying Buch's music, describing it as like a "middle-period Joni Mitchell covering Talk Talk and run through a computer made of jelly."{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Kaelen |title=ML Buch Continues to Defy Description on "Well bucket" and "Working it out" |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/exclaim_staff_pick_ml_buch_well_bucket_and_working_it_out |website=Exclaim! |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=en |date=27 September 2023}} Alex Ruder of KEXP noted that Buch's performance style is "reflective of her love of combining seven-string electric guitars in open tunings with synthetic instruments and electronic experiments."
Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork pointed to the differing styles of Buch's first two albums, contrasting the "vaporwave synths, atmospheric sound design, [and] Auto-Tuned choruses" of Skinned with the "sparkling guitars, frictionless rock drumming, and vocal melodies rendered with airbrushed clarity" of Suntub, marking a "shift from URL to IRL".
Discography
=Studio albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |
| scope="col" style="width:8em;"| Title
! scope="col" style="width:18em;"| Details |
|---|
| scope="row"| Skinned
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|
| scope="row"| Suntub
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=Extended plays=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |
| scope="col" style="width:8em;"| Title
! scope="col" style="width:18em;"| Details |
|---|
| scope="row"| Fleshy
|
|
=Singles=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |
| scope="col" style="width:8em;"| Title
! scope="col" style="width:18em;"| Details |
|---|
| scope="row"| Can You Hear My Heart Leave
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|
| scope="row"| Well bucket/ Working it out
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|
| scope="row"| getting to know each other
|
|