Marching Church, Cheena

Since 2010, Elias Bender Rønnenfelt (Iceage, Vår) has used the Marching Church moniker to a variety of musical ends, both live and recorded. However, the project as it exists on This World Is Not Enough wasn't born until November 2013. With a live performance looming and no real idea what the set would be, Rønnenfelt found a new vision for the band while daydreaming at a gig at the venue where Marching Church was set to perform. "What I pictured was me in a comfortable armchair, adorned in a golden robe, leading a band while a girl kept pouring me champagne when I required it," Rønnenfelt explained. "This raised the question, 'What sort of music would go along with this picture?'" Rønnenfelt discovered the answer to that question with a lineup rounded out by Kristian Emdal and Anton Rothstein of Lower, Cæcilie Trier (Choir of Young Believers), Bo H. Hansen (Hand of Dust, Sexdrome) and Frederikke Hoffmeier (Puce Mary). Under Rønnenfelt's leadership, the group composed some music, rehearsed twice, and played their show. It was decided that night, at the behest of the sound engineer Lars Rex, that this incarnation of Marching Church would make a record. This World Is Not Enough was influenced at first by obscure works like David Maranha's experimental drone-rock saga Antarctica, and eventually by soul bandleaders like James Brown and Sam Cooke. "The whole month of writing and rehearsing and the one week we had in the studio was truly an explosion of ideas," Rønnenfelt said. "Improvisation, something I have never worked with before, was crucial in the making if this album, considering the loose nature of the writing on some of these songs. The album works because of the bands incredible ability of breathing life into these, at times, very simple ideas and experiments." "We decided to record the songs with all six of us in the same room, with me singing and directing. Only the horns, children's choir and a few dubs were added," Rønnenfelt adds. "I am dumbfounded in how we managed to pull it off, considering the limited time and the fact that we couldn't afford to pay anybody involved."
The eight tracks that made the final cut are, in Rønnenfelt's words, "songs of nocturnal longing, preposterous self-obsession and cockeyed etiquette." They move effortlessly between Bruce Springsteen bombast, Nick Cave menace, and James Brown swagger while never sounding like the work of anyone but Rønnenfelt himself. This World Is Not Enough is a defining statement in his career, and doubtlessly the brightest star in the Marching Church firmament.