New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Faroese singer-songwriter
Marius Ziska and his band released a new single, "Klovin", taken from their forthcoming new album "RÚM", out on March 10th via Tutl Records.
"Klovin" - Marius' 5th single off his upcoming album "RÚM" - is one of the most energetic singles from Marius, where the band goes nuts in a lively pop groove of pure good vibes. The production is filled with vocoders, synthesisers, and basslines from another world, assisted by three energetic female vocalists (Marianna Winter, Katrina Olsen, and
Jasmin Mote).
""Klovin" meaning "Cleft", is all about setting yourself aside - not in exchange for money, talent, or fame - but for peace. Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar skills. Faust sold his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for unrestrained enjoyment and freedom. To grow, you have to sow your seed and let it die before you can watch it sprout and live". - says Marius.
With their new album entirely in Faroese language, RÚM,
Marius Ziska manages to take their music to yet another level of eclectic musicianship. In addition to the six-piece band that has been
Marius Ziska for the past many years, this album sees a contribution by the world-renowned Rob Moose, who has composed and played the string arrangements on some of the tracks. The album is titled RÚM, which can mean both room and space in Faroese. The title captures the essence of the Faroese lyrics well, since they fluctuate between the very personal and intimate to the big existential questions of modern existence in a late modern age.
Marius Ziska has been one of the most important voices on the Faroese music scene for many years. With 5 album releases on their back, the band has gained a lot of attention and gathered a large fanbase in and outside of the North. He's been associated with
Bon Iver and Icelandic Ásgeir Trausi with their very similar taste in sound.
Marius Ziska has a love for electronic pop music mixed with the melancholy of the Faroese nature.
His first full album release was under the name
Marius when he released the album The Sky Is Our Home (2006). Under the same name, he released the EP Masses in 2011. Since then, he has released three albums under the name
Marius Ziska - Recreation (2013), Home/Heim (2015) and, Portur (2018). His first albums were sung in English, while Home/Heim is half English and half Faroese, while the latest release Portur (2018) is all in Faroese.
"It kind of feels like I've been studying music my whole life," says
Marius Ziska, "but I don't have a degree in music." Born and based in the Faroe Islands, Ziska has traced distinctly attentive, inquisitive route maps across modern alt-folk landscapes, always with his untutored and exploratory instincts as guiding lights. Working with lyricist Hans Jacob Kollslíð and a revolving troupe of guest musicians, Ziska's introspective and expansive music unfolds with a richly intuitive sense of space and feeling: warm and generous, melancholy and meditative, this is adventurous, inviting music to enfold and lift the spirit.
Ziska's journey began modestly. A gift of a drumkit from his father when
Marius was nine steered him towards bass, guitar and singing. His parents are "not musicians,"
Marius says, "but they are very musical in some way." His own innate musicality began to manifest most clearly at 15, the age when he started writing songs "non-stop". As
Marius elaborates, he first formed a band at 16, at a time when grunge and its progenitors spoke loudly to teenagers from Seattle to Søldarfjørður, Ziska's birthplace. "Those bands were the bands that got me really interested in playing guitar and singing - bands like Nirvana,
Pearl Jam, Soundgarden. I really learned a lot during that time, but we were just 16-year-old boys learning how to play our instruments."
Welcoming and reflective, the depths of thought and feeling in Ziska's music resonate in every "pure and beautiful" note. "It feels as if your heart is about to burst," sings
Marius in Faroese on 'Fall to the Ground'. Balms for the bruised of heart, Ziska's songs lay bare just how that feels.
