ML Buch

{{Short description|Danish musician and producer (born 1987)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{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|Art rock|dream pop|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)<ref name="about">{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.mlbuch.com/about |website=ML Buch |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref name="pitchfork">{{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}}</ref><ref name="crack" /> 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."<ref name="crack">{{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}}</ref>

Buch moved to Copenhagen as a child.<ref name="pitchfork" /> 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.<ref name="pitchfork" /> 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.<ref name="crack" />

She studied visual culture in college, later attending the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, where she studied composition.<ref name="pitchfork" /><ref name="crack" />

== 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.<ref name="pitchfork" />

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.<ref name="skinned">{{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}}</ref> The release was also accompanied by an album-length video depicting the inside of Buch's gastrointestinal tract, captured using a capsule endoscopy camera.<ref name="skinned" /><ref>{{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}}</ref> ''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."<ref name="skinned-p4k">{{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}}</ref>

Buch released the song "Fleshless Hand" on 26 November 2021 alongside a computer-generated imagery music video,<ref>{{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}}</ref> followed by further singles "Well Bucket" and "Working It Out" in 2023.<ref name="exclaim" /> Buch released her sophomore album ''Suntub'' on 15 Love on 27 October 2023, five years after she began work on the project.<ref name="drifty">{{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}}</ref> She recorded the 15-track album over the course of three years in the coastal Danish city Kalundborg, recording vocals in her Peugeot SUV.<ref name="loud">{{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}}</ref> Described by ''Stereogum'' as "an album about nature, about the human body, about physical experience",<ref>{{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}}</ref> ''Suntub'' received widespread praise from critics, appearing on several lists of best albums of 2023.<ref name="exclaim-50" /><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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

Buch released ''Suntub'' ''extras'', an instrumental EP featuring extra material from ''Suntub'', on 20 December 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ML Buch Releases "Extra Material" from 'Suntub' │ Exclaim! |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/ml-buch-releases-extra-material-from-suntub |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250713113352/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/ml-buch-releases-extra-material-from-suntub |archive-date=13 July 2025 |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=ML Buch Releases "Extra Material" from 'Suntub' │ Exclaim! |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Style ==

ML Buch's music has been variously described as electropop,<ref name="skinned-p4k" /> dream pop,<ref name="kexp">{{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}}</ref> alt-rock,<ref name="suntub-pitchfork">{{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}}</ref> soft rock,<ref name="crack" /> art rock,<ref name="exclaim-50">{{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}}</ref> and psychedelic.<ref name="crack" /><ref>{{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}}</ref> 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."<ref name="exclaim">{{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}}</ref> 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."<ref name="kexp" />

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".<ref name="suntub-pitchfork" />

== 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'' | * Released: 3 July 2020 * Label: Anyines |- ! scope="row"| ''Suntub'' | * Released: 27 October 2023 * Label: 15 love |}

===Extended plays=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |- ! scope="col" style="width:8em;"| Title ! scope="col" style="width:18em;"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''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=== {| 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'' | * Released: 22 May 2018 * Label: Skinned |- ! scope="row"| ''Well bucket/ Working it out'' | * Released: 28 September 2023 * Label: 15 love |- ! scope="row"| ''getting to know each other'' | * Released: 16 October 2024 * Label: section1 |}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{official website}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buch, ML}} Category:Living people Category:1987 births Category:Danish women guitarists Category:Danish women singer-songwriters Category:Danish rock guitarists Category:Danish rock singers Category:Danish pop singers