The Mary Onettes’ critically acclaimed debut was described as the perfect mix between A-ha and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Now they are back with a grandiose new album. Imagine a Swedish equivalent of The National on a diet of speed, Planet Earth DVDs, and 80’s guitar pop singles and you’ll have a vague idea of how amazing this is.
The year 2008 was characterized by the deaths of close relatives and friends of Philip Ekström (singer and songwriter of the band) and on 'Islands' he’s put more focus on the lyrics. 'The disappearance of my youth' and 'Cry for love' were written in his girlfriend’s mother’s estate and most of the songs on the album are highly marked by his time in Stockholm after her death.
“The songs are almost too personal and I’ve had a hard time playing them for friends. It’s like all I want to do is keep them to myself.” (Philip). The lyrics are retrospective with themes of lost youth, transience and death.
The first single 'Dare' was no. 1 on Elbo.ws, 'Pleasure Songs' from the debut was Single of the Week on iTunes with half a million downloads. The Mary Onettes have had two songs feature in the TV-series Grey’s Anatomy and their first single on Labrador was tagged Best New Music on Pitchfork… etc. Things have been going well since The Mary Onettes signed with Labrador, but the band has certainly had their ups and downs.
The band got their first record deal in 2004, but were dropped after only six months without the opportunity to release any recorded material. Shortly after that, they signed to SonyBmg and released thier debut 'Make Me Last' in May 2005. Following positive critical reception but muted commercial response, the band found themselves without a label shortly after the EP's release. The Mary Onettes intended to release their own material after that, but were signed to Labrador Records in 2006 where the 'Lost' EP was released in the fall of that year and the self-titled debut album followed in 2007. Even though things have been going well these past years, they’ve still had their share of misfortune. They started recording 'Islands' last year and had about 5-6 almost finished songs in the summer of 2008. By an unlikely series of events the computer on which they recorded the songs got stolen at the same time as the back-up drive was broken… which meant they had to start from the very beginning again. As unlucky as it seemed at the time, 'Islands' might not have turned out quite as amazing as it did if this hadn’t happened. The re-recordings are more lively, and they’ve used more organic instruments like strings, pianos, and children’s choirs than originally intended.
”The title ‘Islands’ came up because I see the tracks on the album as small islands in different shapes and forms where every song is like a record of it’s very own. Johan on Labrador Records suggested the same title without having heard me mentioning the idea, so that was a coincidence too good not to pursue.” (Philip)
www.themaryonettes.net
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