Originally from Thessaloniki, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou moved to Athens and came together to further their appreciation of electronic pop music.
Brought up to the sound of the synthesizer and learning to dance to the beat of electronic drums, they lived on a healthy diet of DEPECHE MODE, HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD, SPARKS, SOFT CELL, DURAN DURAN and NEW ORDER. With the moniker derived from the first syllable of the Greek pronunciation of the girls’ first names, the first MARSHEAUX release was a cover of the early synthpop classic ‘Popcorn’ which emerged on the ‘Nu-Romantix’ electro compilation in 2003.
MARSHEAUX’s irresistible mix of classic pop hooks and digi-analogue synthesis has seen the duo play prestigious support slots for OMD, CLIENT and 30 SECONDS TO MARS… the latter’s frontman Jared Leto is a big fan of Marianthi and Sophie!
As well as recording original material on Undo Records, MARSHEAUX have done numerous cover versions and remixed for other artists including DEPECHE MODE, KATY PERRY, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD, MOBY, MYLÈNE FARMER, MESH, MIRRORS and ANDY BELL.
While popular amongst synthpop fans the world over, MARSHEAUX are still comparatively unknown outside of the cognoscenti. With a restriction of one track per project, this Beginner’s Guide acts as an introduction to the varied portfolio of the Athens based synth maidens from 2003 to the present day…
MARSHEAUX Computer Love (2004)
Of their beginnings, MARSHEAUX said in 2012: “we always thought that we would sound like ERASURE or YAZOO melodically, we would be romantic like OMD, have the aesthetics like PET SHOP BOYS and be clever like SPARKS”. While ‘E-Bay Queen’ is a fairly typical debut album with tracks showing promise rather than being outright classics, the bouncy ‘Computer Love’ largely still remains in the MARSHEAUX live set with its feminised vocoder taking centre stage.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘E-Bay Queen’
MARSHEAUX Dream Of A Disco (2006)
Is a cover or is it Memorex? This interpolation of ‘Space Age Love Song’ by A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS provided MARSHEAUX with their most immediate number yet and the parent album ‘Peek-A-Boo’ saw the ‘E-Bay Queen’ reach adulthood. One of the marketing masterstrokes came with the packaging which included a paper bag ghost mask. Purchasers of the CD wore the bag, took pictures and sent them to the girls… around 3,500 pictures were gathered. Its success secured a wider distribution deal for Undo Records with EMI Greece.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Peek-A-Boo’
MARSHEAUX Fischerprice (2007)
The ironically titled ‘Fischerprice’ was written in response to music critics who had considered MARSHEAUX’s brand of synthpop to be childish and made with toys! Although the track was more of a studio experiment and unlikely to win any songwriters awards, it was good fun. It initially appeared on a CD compiled by Undo Records that was given away free with domestic music magazine ‘Pop+Rock’ in Spring 2007, alongside tracks by FOTONOVELA, NIKONN, IT95, ESTE and TECH SOIR.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘E-Bay Queen Is Dead’
MARSHEAUX Ghost (2008)
An art piece in the MARSHEAUX catalogue, ‘Ghost’ was initially an exclusive 7″ vinyl release that came in special award winning glow-in-the-dark outer cover! Coupled with the NEW ORDER inspired ‘Bizarre Love Duo’, the pairing of songs harked back to the early days of Factory Records where singles were not included on albums and acted as standalone platforms of artistic progress. However, pressure from their German label Out Of Line led to ‘Ghost’ being included on that edition of ‘Lumineux Noir’.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Odyssey’ via Les Disques du Crépuscule
FOTONOVELA featuring MARSHEAUX So Strange (2008)
MARSHEAUX’s production team FOTONOVELA had an acute understanding of the dancefloor which ensured their own debut album was filled with enticing electronic grooves. Perhaps a little less song orientated than MARSHEAUX’s usual template, Marianthi added her sexy accented touch to the excellent ‘So Strange’. With a ‘Madame Hollywood’ styled analogue pulse, some superb vibrato synth sent chills before the magnificent climax of a magnificent screaming ARP Odyssey based solo.
Available on the FOTONOVELA album ‘Mistakes Are Good’
MARSHEAUX Exit (2009)
‘Lumineux Noir’ was a wondrous body of work where MARSHEAUX’s wispy synthpop went up several notches. It led some observers to cite MARSHEAUX as the female DEPECHE MODE. Indeed, released at the same time as the Basildon Boys’ lame ‘Sounds Of The Universe’, ‘Lumineux Noir’ was far superior too. ‘Breakthrough’ and ‘Radial Emotion’ put them with LADYTRON and LITTLE BOOTS respectively, while the tense drama of ‘Exit’ was possibly one of the best songs DEPECHE MODE never recorded.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Lumineux Noir’
TAREQ featuring MARSHEAUX Playboy (2010)
Greco Jordanian Tareq Souleiman was previously the lead singer of TECH SOIR and his vocal timbres made him electro’s answer to INXS’ Michael Hutchence, as his cover of ‘Need You Tonight’ proved. Part of the Undo stable, collaboration with MARSHEAUX was inevitable. While Marianthi and Sophie remixed ‘Mosquito’, the best track on TAREQ’s debut album, he covered ‘Playboy’ from ‘E-Bay Queen’ in a more club-focused style and roped in the girls to sing on it too.
Available on the TAREQ album ‘Cocoon’ via Undo Records
MARSHEAUX Eyes Without A Face (2011)
MARSHEAUX are known for their charmingly delightful covers which have included Synth Britannia staples such as ‘New Life’ and ‘Empire State human’. Originally part of a Buffet Libre covers compilation ‘Peace’ in aid of Warchild, they took BILLY IDOL’s ‘Eyes Without A Face’ into elegant synthpop territory away from its MTV friendly new wave roots. The “Les yeux sans visage” refrain was suitably seductive, while the lead vocals were more sophisticated compared with the former William Broad’s pub singer antics.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘E-Bay Queen Is Dead’
ROLLA SCAPE featuring MARSHEAUX Heaven Is Real (2011)
MARSHEAUX found themselves in funky disco mode on this guest appearance with Constantinos Barbopoulos aka ROLLA SCAPE, an Australian electronic musician based in Athens. While the wispy vocal tones of Marianthi Melitsi were unmistakable, the repetitive and sparse dance flavour of ‘Heaven Is Real’, augmented by rhythm guitar, was quite unlike anything else in the MARSHEAUX catalogue and an enjoyable diversion away from their more obvious synthpop template.
Available on the ROLLA SCAPE album ‘Rolla Scape’ via Undo Records
MARSHEAUX Do You Feel? (2012)
The interim rarities collection ‘E-Bay Queen Is Dead’ gathered covers and unreleased tracks from the MARSHEAUX archives. Although the artwork paid tribute to THE SMITHS’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’, the concept probably had more in common with the Manchester foursome’s ‘Hatful Of Hollow’. ‘Do You Feel?’ had been recorded for their fourth album ‘Inhale’, but was ultimately not included and revealed the high standards of MARSHEAUX’s output, even when it was passed over.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘E-Bay Queen Is Dead’
SAORI YUKI Yoake No Scat – Marsheaux remix (2012)
MARSHEAUX added to their vast remix portfolio with a terrific reworking of a track dating back to 1969 by veteran Japanese classic singer SAORI YUKI. Adding infectious melodic synth hooks and melancholic washes of sound to the more organic re-recording with PINK MARTINI from 2011, this brought Kayokyoku, a style of Japanese music that absorbed various Western styles like jazz and lounge, into the electro age with a ‘Melody For a New Dawn’.
Available on the SAORI YUKI single ‘Yoake No Scat’
MARSHEAUX When We Were Young (2012)
An Anglo-German collective of creative minds from various artistic fields, TWINS NATALIA’s debut single ‘When We Were Young’ was declared by MARSHEAUX to be their favourite song of 2008. So the two parties got together for a special split ‘AA’ sided 7 inch single. Marianthi and Sophie sweetly covered ‘When We Were Young’ while in reciprocation, TWINS NATALIA added a more Teutonic demeanour and fiercer euro-rhythmics to their take on ‘Radial Emotion’ from ‘Lumineux Noir’.
Available on the MARSHEAUX / TWINS NATALIA single ‘When We Were Young’ / ‘Radial Emotion’ via Undo Records / Anna Logue Records
MARSHEAUX Come On Now (2013)
MARSHEAUX’s fourth long player ‘Inhale’ had been a long time coming. And when it appeared, the Greek financial crisis had obviously loomed heavy over its making, resulting in more moodier, mid-tempo numbers taking centre stage. However, the feisty ‘Come On Now’ was as an enjoyable, fully realised cousin of BLONDIE’s ‘Call Me’ that was the most immediate song on the album. By now, MARSHEAUX had become Undo Records’ most prized asset, and ‘Inhale’ became the label’s biggest seller to date.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Inhale’
FOTONOVELA featuring MARSHEAUX Close To Me (2013)
A new FOTONOVELA album would not have been complete without the voices of MARSHEAUX given how the two parties are joined at the hip. While one of the two featured tracks ‘Big Black Hole’ didn’t veer too far from the usual MARSHEAUX formula, ‘Close To Me’ delivered some enigmatic pop in a surprisingly higher register than Marianthi and Sophie had reached before, recalling SANDRA’s ‘Maria Magdalena’. The excellent album also featured James New, Sarah Blackwood and Bethany Cassidy.
Available on the FOTONOVELA album ‘A Ton Of Love’
MARSHEAUX Full Attack (2014)
Appropriately, MARSHEAUX’s career compilation ‘Odyssey’ traced their decade long journey between 2004 to 2014. Released on the prestigious Les Disques Du Crépuscule label and compiled by James Nice, ‘Odyssey’ included a previously unissued song ‘Full Attack’ which was held together by a percussive barrage that had not been present in the girls’ work previously. “‘Full Attack’ is about people that use and manipulate others, and keep doing it till there is nothing left” they said.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Odyssey’
MARSHEAUX My Secret Garden – Extended version (2015)
Having previously recorded ‘New Life’ for the ‘Around The World & Back: A Greek Tribute To Depeche Mode’ album released on Undo, a project covering the whole of ‘A Broken Frame’ was not entirely surprising. The stand-out track ‘My Secret Garden’ contained brilliant drum patterns and a fresh approach to the signature DM sounds. The tune came over as a LADYTRON-like extravaganza, filled with a sex appeal and sensuality that was quite unlike the original. The extended version was even better!
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘A Broken Frame’
MARSHEAUX Burning (2016)
Recorded in London and Athens, a new approach saw MARSHEAUX’s trademark wispiness blended in with a subtle tone of aggression. The opening song on their fifth album proper ‘Burning’ was a harsh, sexy and in your face, with clear references to darker electronica forms while still maintaining the essence of a good tune. The soft voices mesmerised within the heavier synth havoc and looming percussive mantras.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Ath.Lon’
MARSHEAUX Suffer The Children (2016)
A cover of TEARS FOR FEARS’ first single ‘Suffer the Children’, it was a song written by Roland Orzabal that reflected the Bath duo’s interests in Arthur Janov’s Primal Scream therapy to deal with the traumas of childhood. The mood of the innocent childlike vocal refrain in the bridge of the original was maintained throughout MARSHEAUX’s version. The contrast of a wispy female lead vocal paradoxically added extra resonance to the weighty poetry of ‘Suffer The Children’.
Available on the MARSHEAUX digital single ‘Suffer The Children’
MARSHEAUX play Epic Studios, 114 Magdalen Street, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1JD on SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER 2016 – also appearing will be KID KASIO + RODNEY CROMWELL
Text by Chi Ming Lai
8th September 2016, updated 9th February 2021
album in 1982; compared to their Plank produced Cologne Trilogy of ‘Systems Of Romance’, ‘Vienna’ and ‘Rage In Eden’, ‘Quartet’ sounded thin and lacked density. But as history has shown, a producer can only achieve so much when the artists themselves are not delivering and even Plank’s involvement in ULTRAVOX’s lamentable 
album could not save it.
, only the final day involved any actual recording as he had spent the first three days getting to know them; the relationship with DAF continued for a further three albums.
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is available via Grönland Records 
was not included on the debut FAD GADGET long player ‘Fireside Favourites’ that came out a few months later, but it helped establish Mute Records’ credentials as an early champion of independent electronic music.
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was a worthy transitional recording although where Foxx headed next was the more romantic and band oriented textures of ‘The Garden’, with former ULTRAVOX guitarist Robin Simon returning to the fold.
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was not a hit on its original release, but the world belatedly caught up when a remixed reissue reached No11 in 1982.
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was the posthumous hit single that documented the relationship turmoil which JOY DIVISION’s lead singer Ian Curtis was facing prior to his suicide. The initial attempt at recording had been much faster and tighter, but producer Martin Hannett slowed the band down and suggested Curtis take on a more Sinatra based drawl. The looser end result added further weight and poignancy.
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was the first recorded offering from THE BLUE NILE and the highly acclaimed esoteric template that later emerged on ‘A Walk Across The Rooftops’ was already omnipresent. Rawer and more aggressive than songs like ‘Stay’ and ‘Tinseltown In The Rain’, this was a fine opening gambit from the enigmatic Glaswegian trio who had met at university. Originally self-released on their own Peppermint Records, the single was picked up by RSO who promptly folded after its re-release.
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co-produced by Mike Hedges was an interim 45 offering prior to the doomfest of ‘Pornography’. The band’s potential for success now looked like a real threat as The Raincoat Brigade seeked out a successor to JOY DIVISION. But as Robert Smith found his voice, by late 1982 he’d lightened up for the first of THE CURE’s fantasy singles, ‘Let’s Go to Bed’.
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. The multi-lingual phrases strewn over the bridge highlighted an expanding world market while Glenn Gregory provided commentary on how personal relationships were like business transactions. Often a forgotten HEAVEN 17 single, it has since returned to their live set.
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, a song that had not been included on the final tracklisting of their second album ‘The Friends Of Mr Cairo’. Anderson’s lyrics were almost spiritual while the widescreen sonic backing from his Greek chum complimented the mood. Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou himself was about to enter his most high profile period with ‘Chariots Of Fire’ and ‘Blade Runner’.
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being appended to the album. However, it failed to make the UK Top40 despite being re-issued.
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effectively bookended Marc Almond and Dave Ball’s imperial pop period which had started with ‘Tainted Love’. Another song that came via the Northern Soul scene, it was originally recorded by Judy Street and had more than a passing resemblance to ‘Always Something There To Remind Me’. The recording was quickly disowned and was to be SOFT CELL’s last Top10 single before the duo entered much darker musical territory and on the path to ‘Mr Self Destruct’.
via Phonogram / Universal Music
allowed Clarke to put his newly acquired Fairlight CMI through its paces, while a gospel flavour came from SYLVIA & THE SAPPHIRES.
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could be seen as a cynical attempt to ensure DURAN DURAN attained the coveted UK No1 slot. Nick Rhodes made it clear the song was not going to be on the next Duran album while completely different versions featured on each of the 7 and 12 inch formats. One of their most synth laden singles, it featured that dreadfully unforgettable line “You’re about as easy as a nuclear war”!
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featured a charming four way call-and-response vocal while the huge use of portamento on the lead synth line fooled a number of buyers into returning their singles to the shops, thinking it was warped!
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was considerably less harsh than his band’s pioneering electronic body music. Although not featured on Görl’s first solo album ‘Night Full Of Tension’, ‘Mit Dir’ did much to help lighten his mood considerably, so much so that he was even attempting synthpop with contributions from EURYTHMICS’ Annie Lennox on songs like ‘Darling Don’t Leave Me’.
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was a brilliantly glorious statement with Billy Currie’s OSCar interventions being its undoubted musical highlight.
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was the bridge between the industrial flavoured synthpop of ‘Some Great Reward’ and the darker aesthetics of ‘Black Celebration’. A much more accomplished recording than the more throwaway standalones like ‘It’s Called A Heart’ and ‘But Not Tonight’ which followed, ‘Shake The Disease’ continues to be performed live at DM shows, albeit in less interesting stripped down form with Martin Gore on lead vocals.
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became an unexpected American No1 on the back of the movie’s success and took Jim Kerr and Co into the stadiums of the world.
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, a one-off for London Records. Engineered by Dan Lacksman of TELEX, the middle eight featured a sonic passage that would have made Trevor Horn proud. Lines such as “I’ve been thinking we’ll get back together again someday – your hair will be some weird color by then…” reminded European audiences of how quirky SPARKS could be.
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actually follows a chord progression very similar to ‘Enola Gay’. Interestingly, the song failed to enter the Top40 on its release in the UK.
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is one of the Mancunian’s combo’s more under rated singles. With a synth riff borrowed from SHANNON’s ‘Let The Music Play’, it successfully combined some gritty rock energy to a solid Italo disco backbone featuring a great sequenced bassline.
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was a throbbing Moroder-inspired disco tune that borrowed counter-melodies from DONNA SUMMER’s ‘Love’s Unkind’. Independent labels such as Mute and Factory were more likely to indulge in releases that weren’t specifically tied in to albums, and it proved to be a perfect move to maintain ERASURE’s profile while they were preparing their next plan of action. Another standalone EP release ‘Abba-esque’ was a UK No1 in 1992.
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. It all seemed so camp and ridiculous in the video when Neil Tennant was singing the second verse wearing a Stetson, but then in 1992, out popped Bono doing something similar on their ‘Zoo TV’ tour!
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appeared on ‘Partysnäks’, the soundtrack to ‘Die Tanzbeinsammler’.
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was recorded for the film ‘Insignificance’ and produced by Midge Ure under the pseudonym of Otto Flake Junior.
(V/A) via Union Square
was a commentary on the “I’m alright Jack” selfishness of the nation. The sentiment lost unfortunately on a British public still drowned in blue emotion…
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was very much dominated by Gabriel’s dancefloor instincts. But all was not well within. “The MD from Island suddenly left and all the people who worked on my album left as well” she remembered, “A new guy came in and already I could sense what would happen, so Pascal and I decided to get really experimental”.
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with CHROME SEDUCTION was a percussively frantic club number that also saw a reunion with former partner-in-crime Susanne Freytag. The project of Magnus Fiennes, brother of actors Joseph and Ralph, it was independently released by Mother Alpha Delta.
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featuring a duet with FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD’s Paul Rutherford A beautifully crafted synthesized tribute to David Bowie & Pat Metheny, it had been intended for a film soundtrack but shelved.
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, a co-write with Martin Gore which also featured the guitar of DEPECHE MODE’s main songwriter.
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, a most gorgeously shuffled electrobeat ballad. While ‘Unknown Treasure’ was in Brücken’s words, “a real collaboration”, “’Don’t Stop’ was in reverse, they gave me all the music and then I did the words and sent it back to them”.
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Rockstar Games wanted a German singer for a new game called ‘LA Noire’ soundtracked by THE REAL TUESDAY WELD’s Stephen Coates who in a jazzy cabaret-style music with subtle electronica dubbed Antique Beat. “I thought: why not?” said Brücken, “I found it a really good challenge doing something I hadn’t done before”. 
was the alluring highlight of three songs recorded.
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was the first song to emerge from Brücken’s reinterpretations project with producer 
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from scratch for OMD. “Paul had the idea of asking Claudia to do the vocal in the middle eight” remembered McCluskey… the result was electronic magic.
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very much reflected her personal mindset following the end of her relationship with Paul Humphreys.
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Foxx made an unexpected return to music with an acid house inspired number produced by Tim Simenon of BOMB THE BASS fame: “It was a great experience – a new underground evolving from post-industrial Detroit, using analogue instruments rescued from skips and pawn shops… Tim Simenon turned up wanting me to do some music… so Foxx was out the freezer and into the microwave…”
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