Rising alt-pop artist Marineris recently shared his debut album, ‘My Band Could Be Your Home’, and it’s become an instant source of praise, capturing the attention of fans, critics, and tastemakers like The Independent and Headliner Magazine.
A complex and cathartic glimpse into the minds of Gen-Z, the album is a perfect reflection of a teenager’s fragile state of mind, trying to realise itself when the contemporary world constantly tells him how to feel, look, love; what to think, eat and choose. It explores the notion that music can be life-changing, or at times life-saving. A means to handle all the kinds of pain you’ve experienced.
Describing the album as a ‘series’, Marineris explores different themes across each track or ‘episode’, delivering a transformative experience that covers a variety of styles, from 00s indie rock anthems to electrifying trap-pop ballads, from Henry Rollins-inspired punk banger to 80s catchy synth-pop tunes and odes to Nirvana’s grunge classic ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
An icon in the making, we couldn’t wait to sit down with Marineris and find out a bit more about the album, his inspirations, and what the future holds.
Fantastic to meet you, Marineris, your album has been a runaway success so far! How did you first start making music? Where did it all begin?
It seems that from the very moment I was born, we had a simple acoustic guitar at home so my dad would play every time we had some guests over. He knew just the basic chords and it was enough to play almost any song. But I have not even touched the guitar till I turned 11, just observing it instead. Once we had a couple of weeks of quarantine at school, and that’s when I decided to try and learn how to play it. Now I had something to do besides playing GTA and Need For Speed.
Critics have described your new album as a maelstrom of different sounds and styles, and there’s certainly so much to unpack. How would you describe your sound to those not yet acquainted?
I hope that My Band Could Be Your Home’ sounds like an ‘Almanac of the best sound discoveries in the world of contemporary music’ ha-ha!
What is your songwriting process? How does something like that all come together?
A thing that I really like about it is that every next song in this album is completely different from the previous one. I think that it is great and honest, as we, humans, cannot exist in the same emotional state over a long period of time, as it gradually changes during the day, the week, etc.
At first, I set a goal to make an EP. I had an incredible amount of demo, but I didn’t have even one song released. As I was working on EP, the tracklist grew from five to fifteen songs. On one hand, music is all I want to do, so the more songs I had in the workings - the better it was; but on the other hand, it was also a challenge to finish fifteen songs for a person who didn’t finish even one before.
Honesty and vulnerability always play such an important role in truly great releases. What would you say is the most important thing for you when you’re writing a song?
I think that the main moment in any song is the very first one when you’re trying to feel its thread. Because once you do that, this feeling is different from anything else and everything that happens after, comes out of this very first impulse and keeps interpreting it.
You have a sound that is both modern, but also wonderfully familiar. Are there any influences that help define your music?
I think that emotionally wise, Oasis had the biggest influence on me. In all of their songs, like ‘Live Forever’, ‘Supersonic’ or ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, there is so much inner strength and hope that they make you feel so special and capable of making any dream come true, you know? At the same time, their music has so much melancholic romanticism in it, that it makes you smile through tears. That’s why these songs became a sort of foundation for me.
With the album still building to be a breakthrough success, the big question now is what’s next for you as an artist?
Now that the album is out, I will try to uncover its message through the visuals. I’m thinking about the music videos for ‘Our House Is on Fire’ and one more track.
It’s been wonderful talking with you, Marineris. One final question before you go; what would your dream collaboration be?
I think we would find a common ground with the guys from The Neighbourhood! For a long time, their music accompanied me, so releasing a feat would be definitely a dream.
Available now on all major streaming platforms, along with completely self-directed music videos for his singles ‘Another Song About You’ and 'Petrified’, Marineris’ debut album is an undeniable release that is sure to make its mark.
Born and raised in an industrial town in Ukraine, Marineris grew up listening to an eclectic mix of musical genres. Citing The 1975 and Mura Masa as some of his biggest musical inspirations, he draws on his combined influences, thriving on being able to experiment with his music and the concepts and emotions he’s able to portray, totally owning his uniqye brand of bold, gutsy and thought-provoking alt-pop.
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