For the ‘TV Bliss’ EP, Mickey and partner/bandmate Jesse Pangburn (drums / production) embraced in-depth collaboration for the first time. With Jimmy Eat World frontman Jim Adkins offering support and feedback, the project was further developed with mixing courtesy of the Grammy-nominated Tony Hoffer (Depeche Mode, Metric, Chromeo) before being mastered by Dave Cooley (Wolf Alice, Tame Impala, Paramore).
The themes and wider aesthetic throughout the EP was inspired by Mickey’s childhood passion for television. And just as she discovered new artists via syncs in ‘Dawson’s Creek’ and ‘Gilmore Girls’, MRCH have become soundtrack regulars in the streaming age with their songs featuring in ‘Shameless’, ‘Guilt’, ‘The Vampire Diaries’, ‘Famous in Love’, ‘Search Party’, ‘13 Reasons Why’ and ‘The Twilight Zone’.
As she explains, “‘TV Bliss’ is documentary deja vu. I grew up in Bagdad, Arizona. It’s a copper mine that even in its boomtown heyday was never home to more than three thousand people. Daytime reruns and ‘90s made-for-TV-movies were my escapism. They were a portal to the outside world, where things weren’t necessarily any better, but they were beautiful - imperfectly cinematic. When I started writing music, it matched these aesthetics, grainy, unpolished, but still vivid and romantic. It really wasn’t until the last couple years, dealing with the pandemic and then with back to back health scares with my parents, that I found myself revisiting that escapism - stepping back through the silver screen.”
Drawing upon influences such as Cocteau Twins, New Order, Metric, Phantogram, St. Vincent, Purity Ring and Beach House, MRCH have until now been an entirely independent band. It was that entrepreneurial spirit which led to them being discovered by The Vertex, after Mickey contacted the label’s co-founder Stephen Taverner in the hope of landing a support slot to Wolf Alice, who he manages. As that deal begins to open up new opportunities for MRCH, the duo’s music steps forward in tandem into the unknown, more accomplished, intense and emotionally engaging than ever before.
