Making Marks release the second single from their forthcoming album In A Desert Of Consultancy ahead of a busy summer festival and touring circuit.
After the well-received debut single Ticket Machine, the hard working Norwegian quartet from Oslo return with Barcodes. A guaranteed summer pop hit, Barcodes combines the warmth and nearness of an indiepop dance floor classic, with all the coolness and distance you’d expect from upcoming stars of the Scandinavian music scene. Making Marks have toured heavily over the past year, playing across Europe with the likes of Allo Darlin and North America with Tigercats, culminating in a show stealing performance at New York Popfest.
This summer sees them return to the UK for appearances at Secret Garden Party and Indietracks festivals before a short tour with NYC based The Ballet.
The Barcodes 7” features an exclusive non-album mix of Barcodes, featuring Allo Darlin’s Paul Rains on lapsteel guitar, who also leant his hand to the Barcodes artwork illustrations. The flip side is a near-acoustic version of A Thousand Half-Truths, allowing Ola and Nina’s delicate vocal interchanges to flourish.
Versions of both tracks appear on their upcoming debut album, where in particular A Thousand Half-Truths showcases Making Marks’ diversity - from the bare heartbreaking tenderness of this single version to the euphoric and reverb drenched guitar solos that comprise the dynamic album version of the song.
Norwegian disco producer Skantze lends his hands to a remix bonus track for the single too, for an extra fix of uber-cool Scando-disco....
“upbeat, lovely soulful indie pop. Think Belle & Sebastian sprinkled with Motown, jazz, and far more instruments, including the banjo, classical strings, brass and the glockenspiel. What keeps [them] an indie pop band as we know it is frontman Ola Innset’s serene, Paul Simon-esque voice” MTV Iggy
“While the Oslo-based quartet’s melancholy instrumentals were lush, it was their secret weapon—cotton candy-spun male/female harmonies—that got the packed out bar moving” Under The Radar
“It has elements of everything: Belle & Sebastian, Animal Collective, Kitchens Of Distinction, Allo Darlin’…” Everett True - Collapse Board
credits
released August 4, 2013
Track 1 recorded and mixed by Simon Throught and Giles Barratt in Soup Studio, London - September 2012. Pedal Steel by Paul Rains. Track 2 recorded in Six Feet Over Studio, Oslo - February 2012, mixed by Sjur Lyseid. Both tracks mastered by Sjur Lyseid at Six Feet Over.
supported by 4 fans who also own “Barcodes - single”
Go on to Spotify and play this single. You will see why I love it. Here We Go is one of my best songs I have discovered this year, and Cameraman is also sublime. Long may The Spook School continue doing what they do great. Tom Mayhew
supported by 4 fans who also own “Barcodes - single”
The name of this album perfectly encapsulates everything I love about Elizabeth's musical output from the Darlings to Allo Darlin' to these precious songs: an unyielding optimism that is never naive, and by being so, becomes wildly contagious. Some music tells you that "everything will be ok", but her music actually makes you believe it, even when the lyrics hint at doubt. Michael Feck
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