Formed in 2011, Maribou State (Chris Davids & Liam Ivory) released a string of EP’s and singles before the arrival of debut album “Portraits”, released on Ninja Tune’s Counter Records imprint in 2015, propelled them to the world stage. In 2018 the band returned with “Kingdoms In Colour”, featuring the track ‘Feel Good’ feat. Khruangbin; vocals from long-standing collaborators Holly Walker, (who previously sang on fan favourites ‘Midas’, ‘Steal’ & ‘Tongue’); a collaboration with North Downs; and standout single ‘Turnmills’ (named after the London club which closed in 2008). 

The record earned them a #25 spot on the UK album charts (and #4 on the UK Record Store chart), was BBC 6 Music’s ‘Album Of The Day’ and received huge support from Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Pete Tong, Nemone and many more, with the band also performing live on Lauren Laverne’s show, and more recently curating a special mix for BBC Radio 1’s ‘Wind Down’ show. Press support came from the likes of NME, Complex, GQ, and Crack Magazine, with Mixmag naming them as one of their ‘Artists Of The Year’ 2018. They also received AIM Award nominations for ‘International Breakthrough’ and ‘Best Second Album’ in 2019. 

They’ve recently completed an extensive Kingdoms In Colour live-tour which included many highlights such as going coast-to-coast in North America—playing in a newly refurbished Webster Hall in NYC, and performing a special live session for Seattle’s KEXP—a triumphant sold-out show at London’s Brixton Academy, with the 5-piece band joined on stage by a string quartet and choir; headlining Lost Village festival in the UK alongside Bicep, Little Dragon, Modeselektor, Richie Hawtin and playing at the Sydney Opera House. The tour came to a fitting end at Magnetic Fields in India, a country close to their hearts and a significant inspiration on Kingdoms In Colour, with a number of field recordings making it into the album, as well as the main guitar riff to ‘Glasshouses’ being written whilst staying on a houseboat on the Keralan backwaters. 

Spotify Singles Session: https://open.spotify.com/album...

The band is currently under BMG's publishing.