reviews MARY's Artist profile/interview on Matchbox UK
Interview by Sergio Vilar at Nucleus in Argentina
Visit MARY MYSPACE
Gatewaymusic DK
Buy IN THE HEAD OF A DREAMER at CDBABY or at Matchbox Recordings
The Mag - Music Magazine / UK: 'On a journey across territory which is by turns as dreamy as Wonkaland and as nightmarish as the most cragged mountain pass. / A classy, detailed debut that sets high expectations for the angelically voiced Marie.'
AudioXposure.com: ' The title of MARY’s debut album, In the Head of a Dreamer, couldn’t be a more perfect fit. The new age, modern jazz, and folk combination amounts to music that’s nothing short of being the perfect soundtrack to a dream.'
Leonards Lair / UK : 4 out of 5 'Rich, natural vocals /excellent and genuinely heartfelt recording'
Sea Of Tranquility / New York : 'The music on the CD is breezy, jazzy, dreamy pop music, with Marie's gorgeous and alluring vocals leading the way over sparse instrumentation'
Dutch DPRP progressive rock page : 'Hidden strengths began to surface, displaying a refreshing individuality that was hard to ignore/undeniable qualities '
Jydske Vestkysten / danish newspaper :
Garvet debutant spiller flot ud
Jazz : Mary - In The Head Of A Dreamer 4 ud af 6 stjerner
Af Ole Sørensen
Marie Ingerslev har prøvet lidt af hvert - blandt andet sunget til tegnefilm, men med sin debut-cd, "In The Head Of A Dreamer" er hun helt sig selv - som frontfigur i bandet, Mary.
Og musikken er lige så universel som navnet. Der er internationalt swung of de jazzede popsange, som Marie Ingerslev afleverer med sødme og sikkerhed. Især en sang som "Try in my heartland" kan man lige så stille gå hen og blive forfalden til. Hæs saxofon fra gæstesolisten Torben Snekkestad og så Marie Ingerslevs dejlige stemme. Det er klasse.
ENCRUCIJADA-MELODIC / Argentina :
(Read english translation:)
TOP ALBUM OF THE MONTH 5 out of 5
When I listened for the first time to this CD I was really surprised by the excellent quality of composition and sound that it has. But when listening to it repeated times, I could discover manifold details that make it still more attractive. MARY is the solista project of the singer and Danish guitarist Marie Ingerslev, composer of all the compositions of "In the head of a dreamer". Apart from Marie, the band consists of Kenneth Hansen (rhodes, strings and keyboards), Thommy Andersson (bass), Kalle Mathiesen (drums - strings - keyboards) and Torben Snekkestad (Saxo - Clarinete). Marie already has participated together with Kalle in other musical projects, but this solista work just was sent on sale this year by the British seal Matchbox Recordings. The MARY music crosses to a large extent experimental sounds and become very related with the more modern Progressive Rock, although in fact it is not strictly Progressive Rock... On the opposite, MARY has a sound that could well classify like Melodic Rock, but with a so personal touch that the labels are left boys. All the subjects take to the format song and turn in rededor of the sweet voice of Marie. This voice must like basic characteristics be very smooth and to explode at those vibrant moments of melodías. There is a right balance between the voice of the girl and melodías that comes off all those instruments, like result in a perfect harmony that makes the music practically pleasant in all sense and as atrapante element as delicate. In fact, Marie has a privileged voice that single can be compared with Anneke van Giersbergen, Tori Amos or Sara McLachlan. The songs that surely go to emocionarte are "" Will you be there "," Flaws and wrinkles "(with acoustic guitars of bottom)," He went into a painting "," Reality is only imagination "and" In the head of a dreamer ". But without doubts the best piece of the disc is "A prayer from god", where the voice of Marie reaches the highest registry and a very complex technique. The lyrics of "In the head of a dreamer" (all composed by this girl) speak about the life and the death. In short, it is an attractive disc, after listening to it, able of envolverte in the sweet voice of Marie and the musical quality of the set. Essential!
Pablo B.
The English magazine Classic Rock Society:
31 year old Mary Ingerslev is a Danish singer/songwriter based in Copenhagen. The band MARY have Mary up front and a full band with Kenneth Hansen on Keys/Strings, Thommy Andersson on bass/doublebass, Kalle Mathiesen on drums/strings, and Torben Snekkestad on saxophones ans bass clarinet. It is an album full of surprices with gentle songs matched by upbeat pop rockers augmented by jazzier numbers. Mary has a beautiful voice, sometimes having a Bjork about her but never as eccentric. Her perfect English helps to bring out the best in her original material and it does help surrounding yourself with fine musicians too ! This is not no big anthemic rock album but a gentle stroll through dreamy situations and real life and one for a sunny evening with a nice glass of 'red' in you hand !
McCullough Crane
Jessica Attene from Arlequins in Italy:
(Read english translation:)
One can never know what passes in the head of a dreamer, it is instead true that such music can help to dream, like happens for the debut of Marie Ingerslev's band, singer and author of all the songs of this album. Without doubt the songs are based upon the singer's seducing voice but the winning choice has been to enrich the gentle vocal lines with delicate arrangements, made of vintage sounds. The result is a truly delicate symphonic pop, with romantic and solar atmospheres, refined and dreaming sounds. The music is never pretentious and sometimes the semiacoustic accompaniments are preferred.
There are some retrievals to early Genesis, especially for keyboards parts, even if everything is very tenuous and distant, with influences that one can nearly sense between the lines. There is a kind of a nordic feeling with shaded folk echoes but the feelings are always velvety and serene, ending at a high level to a sweet melancholy, never so osbscure but always open to pleasant feelings, like in the soft "Try in my Heartland", where only the brass instruments are used as accompanyment in an intriguing way.
Marie's voice is crystalline and always in foreground, well modulated and with a pleasant tone. It's all about songs, in their simple garment, that open however to never banal rhythmic and melodic solutions. Sometimes we have a more decisive change towards pop music but in a way that does not compromise the success of the album. If you don't dislike airy and light music which does not fear pop and song-oriented contaminations and if you have a positive and romantic spirit, this could be the album for you.
Carlos Vaz from Progressive Rock Brasil: 'All the instruments are clear and send the music into outer space / indispensable work, highly recommendable... ' (To read the review scroll down the page)
Guitartools / UK : 'An outstanding lyrical and guitarbased spectacle all the way from Denmark. / They are very broad in their style, bringing together songs from several different genres of music to produce a well balanced and flowing album.'
The Ectophiles' Guide to good music: 'My favourite song is the title track, which is rockier than many of the tracks here, but the reason it particularly catches me is the layering of vocals in the chorus. Another stand-out track is the almost progressive-rock-like "He went into a painting"—it's dreamy, impressionistic, and highly listenable.'
Luna Kafé : 'The jazz influences rear their head here and the vocal owes something to Kate Bush. / The philosophical slant to "Reality is Only Imagination" is intriguing.'
German website Musiksuche :
(Read english translation:)
'Frontsinger and songwriter Marie Ingerslev has been writing own songs from childhood, her expressionfull and colourrich voice sets its mark on this modern and troughout dreamy Rock-Pop-jazz-Indie Album. Aetherial, Effectfull and transparent arranged songs to lean back and simply enjoy.'
