MARIE TUEJE
Meet MARIE TUEJE - a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer and producer breathing new life into the prototype female singer-songwrtier. Une femme apart, Marie is an artist with a haunting voice, faultless arrangements and wickedness in her fingers, who comes armed with songs to die for.
Humorous desperation
Marie's influences appear to the listener in swathes and as curveballs. With an air of the tongue-in-cheek Marie describes her sound as "a cross between Aimee Mann and The Smiths" before elaborating, "I think that artists are too often weighed down by the spectre of influence - whether through an eagerness to deny or revel in them. If somebody says to me 'You remind me of so-and-so', I just go with the flow - and bite my tongue if necessary! In the end you either make your own way or you don't. You either fly or you don't". And whilst there are hints of Mann's bulletproof songwriting and The Smiths' humorous desperation (see 'Killer In The Road' and 'Laugh Out Loud' respectively, for evidence of this),
Marie gives an expanded list of influences that include Talking Heads, The B-52's, Liz Phair, Stereolab, Sleater-Kinney, Lush, Jeff Buckley, Cocteau Twins, Tori Amos, The White Stripes, Alison Krauss, and PJ Harvey. Not that you're likely to be instantly name-checking through as you listen to her music, for one of Marie Tueje's supreme qualities is the ability to sound both familar and strange at the same time, leaving the listener with the urge to press 'rewind' and have their senses infused all over again.
Folk... Rock... Pop... Explosion!!!
Marie sums up her musical style in four words: Folk, Rock, Pop, Explosion (or F.R.P.E for short). Marie first started making music at the age of eight, using an abandoned c a s i o keyboard, and old Spanish guitar and an even older h i t a c h i cassette player. Having played in bands and recorded albums worth of other people's songs, Marie decided to fly solo - working quickly on a bunch of songs she had written. That was in 2005. The result, 'In The Back Room', is a mesmerising introduction to a fascinating new artist. Each of the six tracks gives rise to a new facet of Marie's crazy abilities. Recorded - quite literally - in the back room of her mother's house in South London,'In The Back Room' is a beautiful fusion of the classic singer-songwriter with a rock n' roll dynamic. And the reason why this ep is only now seeing the light of day, in late 2006? Well that's thanks to pressure and support from Marie's friends who wanted to see her music get out there and be heard. Now no longer lost forever, 'In The Back Room' showcases the boundaries of her artistic licence. From the beat-pop of '(Would It Really Make A Difference) If I', to the moody electronica of 'Full Stop' and the folk charm of 'Hey Nanci', 'In The Back Room' is sure to become essential listening to all who hear it. So hear it for yourself.
GIGS
Influences
Talking Heads, The B-52's, Liz Phair, Stereolab, Sleater-Kinney, Lush, Jeff Buckley, Cocteau Twins, Tori Amos, The White Stripes, Alison Krauss, and PJ Harvey
