VIDEO PREMIERE: Band of Skulls’ Marsden & Richardson return with video for new single ‘Oh Forgiveness’

VIDEO PREMIERE: Band of Skulls' Marsden & Richardson return with video for new single 'Oh Forgiveness'

Having released their second single, the enchanting ‘Oh Forgiveness’ in recent weeks, Band Of Skulls duo Marsden & Richardson today release the video for their latest offering with XS Noize exclusively!

Back in July they introduced us to their warm and enticing sound with their debut single ‘Outsider’. The Marsden & Richardson project was originally conceived as a contrast to their work with Band Of Skulls, opting for a more laid-back aesthetic, which ‘Oh Forgiveness’ has in spades. Setting the duo’s warm and captivating vocal harmonies against an broad and acoustic-led production gives their latest release a rich and vibrant texture that fully encompasses this new venture.

Speaking about the new offering, they said, “‘Oh Forgiveness’ is actually one of the first songs we ever wrote together. We recently re-discovered it amongst a pile of dusty cassette tapes and we set about re-imagining it for Marsden & Richardson. It’s a song about heartbreak and coming to terms with all those emotions. It’s juxtaposed against a surreal backdrop of gospel / latin and rock n roll. Definitely a different and unexpected side of our songwriting partnership, both past and present.”

Watch the video for ‘Oh Forgiveness’ – BELOW:

Alongside news of their latest single, the duo has also announced their plans for an exclusive live performance at London’s St. Pancras Old Church on February 2nd, 2022. The show will be their first back in front of a live audience since the start of the pandemic. Buy tickets HERE.

Adding about their return to the stage, “Like all artists, finally getting back in front of an audience is going to be emotional!

“We have missed our fans all over the world and this is the first step to being out there again. We’ve missed sharing the songs from our new record and that unique feeling you only get in a live situation.

“Thanks to everyone for their continued support, it’s kept us going so let’s celebrate together.”

Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson first started writing songs together in their teens after meeting at school in their Southampton hometown. Forming Band of Skulls 17 years ago with drummer Matt Hayward, they went on to make five acclaimed studio albums together. Now, the pair have temporarily stepped away from Band of Skulls to focus on a new musical project they’ve been dreaming about since their earliest songwriting days.

Unlike their heavier Band of Skulls repertoire, Marsden & Richardson is far more stripped-down and personal, allowing fans to clearly hear the duo’s soaring, melodic harmonies alongside lush orchestration and a more personal, emotive style of songwriting. “In the past, often we wrote a song and then just turned it into this loud thing,” Russell laughs. “We’ve always sung in harmony but we kind of stupidly decided to have the loudest sounding band behind us, which then makes it really hard to sing in harmony! This is the first time that we’ve written songs like this and not converted them into rock and roll songs. We’ve gone in the opposite direction and it feels very exciting.”

The pair say writing in a duo and building on a song-writing partnership that’s lasted so long made sharing the personal songs much easier. “I think perhaps the songs did start off in a more individual place but when we get together, we leave space in each other’s songs for the other person to be a part of it,” Russell explains. He says because the songs were so personal, they worked hard on finding a balance between being open and writing a song they could realistically perform without getting too emotional.

Their new material began to be put together just prior to lockdown; it was written and recorded in a new, home studio, Snook Studios, set up in Russell’s basement with the two playing almost all the instruments between them for the very first time. “I’m a guitar player, Emma plays bass and we both sing, but with this project, all of the jobs became outs. I’ve written a song that pushed me to the edge of my talent but we learned so much from this and could tinker with songs an unlimited number of times until we got it perfect.”

The home studio freed the pair from time constraints and enabled them to perfect their songcraft and production. For the first time, Russell produced the new material entirely by himself. “It was something that I always really had an interest in and always wanted to do,” Russell explains. “The situation kind of forced me to just do it – there was no way of meeting up with anybody or working with anyone else. I’d worked with some amazing producers in the past – Richard X, Gill Norton, Mick Laune and Ian Davenport. All of their talent and skill, it felt like I had them on my shoulders when I started work on the production. I spoke to Ian during the process, and I confessed, ‘I’m going to try and take control over this’ and he was like, ‘Oh, I always knew you’d do that Russell,’ which was actually very reassuring.”

Whilst this project is very much separate from Band of Skulls, it is still very much “running alongside” what the duo are doing now, according to Emma. “We wanted to look back to those simpler times, records with just a strong songwriting duo like Nancy and Lee, Simon and Garfunkel. They sort of created their own self-titled, self-contained kind of sonic world and we wanted to do that with this.

“We also wanted to celebrate our own songwriting partnership. We’re very proud of these songs and we hope they stand up for us forever. If someone wants to know what we can really do when writing a song, these songs should be the place to look. We’re so proud of everything we’ve achieved.”

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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