ML Buch

Marie Louise Buch (; born 1987) 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.

Buch moved to Copenhagen as a child. The release was also accompanied by an album-length video depicting the inside of Buch's gastrointestinal tract, captured using a capsule endoscopy camera. 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."

Buch released the song "Fleshless Hand" on 26 November 2021 alongside a computer-generated imagery music video, followed by further singles "Well Bucket" and "Working It Out" in 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. Described by Stereogum as "an album about nature, about the human body, about physical experience", Suntub received widespread praise from critics, appearing on several lists of best albums of 2023.

Following the release of Suntub, Buch announced a double-billed tour with fellow Danish singer-songwriter Astrid Sonne in spring 2024, as well as a North American tour in summer 2024.

Buch released Suntub extras, an instrumental EP featuring extra material from Suntub, on 20 December 2024.

Style

ML Buch's music has been variously described as electropop, alt-rock, soft rock, and psychedelic. 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." 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 Title Details Skinned Released: 3 July 2020 Label: Anyines Suntub Released: 27 October 2023 Label: 15 love

Extended plays Title Details Fleshy Released: 23 February 2017 Label: In Real Life Music under exclusive license to AWAL Recordings America, Inc.Suntub extras Released: 20 December 2024

Singles Title Details Can You Hear My Heart Leave Released: 22 May 2018 Label: Skinned Well bucket/ Working it out Released: 28 September 2023 Label: 15 love getting to know each other Released: 16 October 2024 Label: section1