Julian & Marina

This Is Not America – Photograph

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Claes Bang will be immediately familiar to television viewers from his role in the series, Bad Sisters. In that context, he played an abusive douche who managed to insult everyone around him. The Danish actor also starred in The Square, Ruben Östlund’s Oscar-nominated film about a thoughtless curator. The problem-ridden characters played by Bang might not generate much sympathy, but his musical side-line is more endearing.

This Is Not America is Bang’s studio project. He has recorded a number of tracks together with Marina Schiptjenko (Page, BWO, Vacuum), with whom he worked on The Square. A real-life gallerist at Stockholm’s prestigious Andrehn-Schiptjenko, she also has some musical side-projects, including the Riviera-tronica duo, Julian & Marina. The two clicked, and Schiptjenko joined Bang to record several tracks in a Danish studio.

(Photo: Lis Kasper Bang)

The latest EP from This Is Not America includes one solo track from Bang and two together with Schiptjenko. This one is not a million miles from the Pet Shop Boys; particularly in the chorus.

FacebookTwitterWhatsappTelegramEmail

Julian & Marina – And the Summer (Play That Fuckin Bass Julian)

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Lifted from their 2014 album, Absence & Distance, and remixed for the scorching Midsummer of 2022, comes “And the Summer” from Julian & Marina.

The Swedish duo of Julian Brandt (Bobby, Lustans Lakejer) and Marina Schiptjenko (Page, BWO, Vacuum) have been capturing the feelings of summer days and starry nights since 2012. Their last single, “Open Relationship,” was about their musical collaboration. Long may it last.

FacebookTwitterWhatsappTelegramEmail

Beauty and Electricity: Julian and Marina

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

European cool was born in black and white.

Think of Chantal Goya looking demure in Masculin Feminin, Anna Karina in Alphaville, or early footage of Françoise Hardy.
Their images were captured with a wide tonal range and fixed in silver salts by the photographers and film-makers of the 50s and 60s. Their youth, culture and bearing formed an iconic style that is sadly remote from the graffiti-, filler- and golden toothed-culture of modern film and music.

All has not been abandoned to the pages of nostalgic fashion editorials, however. Julian & Marina keep the spirit alive with For Beautiful People Only, their new album.

Recorded in Stockholm, FBPO channels the perfumed air of Riviera bars and the sensuality of Anita Ekberg refreshing in a Roman fountain. From the strings of the opening, title track, the listener is transported to a lounge stocked with more crystal than Kristal. The voices of Julian Brandt and Marina Schiptjenko float effortlessly over proceedings, as a soundtrack to romantic meetings or a pause between cocktails.

Everyone needs “Someone to Cling To,” and particularly with the PSB-style of Julian & Marina’s production. Liza wouldn’t struggle to keep pace with the song’s minor key touches, and the Malcolm McLaren of Fans and Paris would have found a lot to appreciate in the classy electronics, as well.

“Hello Darling” finds Schiptjenko rapping verses in front of a funky bass line while Brandt leads on the choruses. It is solid state pop for the post-transistor generation.

“The Saddest Girl to Ever Hold a Bellini” invites the listener to leave the party for a little walk under the moonlight, but don’t forget your sunglasses.

The PSB influences really come to the fore on “Love on a Summer Night.” You can practically feel the sand between your toes as you carry your shoes along the beach.

Who are the beautiful people? You are. And this is your music.

FacebookTwitterWhatsappTelegramEmail

Julian & Marina: Live at Electronic Summer

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Julian & Marina
Gothenburg, Sweden
29 August 2013

It is hard not to fall in love with Julian & Marina. Watching the electro-crooner duo from Stockholm perform is a little like being with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in 1960s Rome, but in colour and with a sleek synthesized soundtrack. They are stylish, cool and refined, and clearly enjoying themselves as they play a set of original songs and selected covers. Later in the Electronic Summer festival, the stage will be claimed by hard-edged futurepop and EBM bands, but for now they own it completely.

1185430_194464410732187_955482985_nJulian is Mr Brandt, latterly the bass player for Lustans Lakejer. Marina is Ms Schiptjenko, still of Page and formerly with Vacuum and BWO. They were brought together by their shared love of old-school Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran, and it is these influences which come out most strongly. The ghost of a younger Neil Tennant is present in songs like Count the Stars, and the smooth sounds of The Moon and the Stars do a lot to restore romance to electronic music.

Lee Hazlewood and Irving Berlin make appearances, as songwriters, but Julian & Marina’s own material is just as slick. Brandt handles vocal duties with a winning and infectious style, while Schiptjenko’s keyboard work is accomplished and refined. The baton of the early Pet Shop Boys has been picked up, dusted off and given a make-over by these Swedes, who will take your heart, as well.

FacebookTwitterWhatsappTelegramEmail

Copyrighted image. Enjoy it on our site!