Dissociating To My New Home: ML BUCH
WRITTEN BY ELI ROSENBERG
My favourite way to enjoy an airplane is with countless hours of music and mindlessly staring out the window. My journey across the waters has started. I am doing my exchange program in the beautiful Aarhus, Denmark, studying journalism. After a gruesome delay, I finally get on my plane and immediately throw on my headphones. To embrace the culture I am heading towards, I turn on Danish artist, ML Buch. Instantly, I am dropped into a new world, inhabiting her music. A dream-like state moves me above a hill, where a cliff lies by the bed of the ocean; an open grass field sits above calmly swaying as the wind flows through it. Barefoot, the blades of grass rustle through my feet, glitching my skin like a hologram. As the air flows around my body, I make my way down to a beach in the distance. I stand on the beach, in front of a boundless cliff, digging my feet into the sand. I see myself from a third person's perspective, my body standing on the edge of the shore. I am in a place I have never been; Although I am not scared, I feel an unknown emotion that courses its way throughout my veins. I jolt up from this state and realize I've arrived in Denmark, following the music to its origin.
Marie Louise Buch, better known as ML Buch, is a Danish artist and composer who is slowly breaking through the electro dream pop indie scene. With sounds that feed dopamine straight to the dome, the music captivates the energy of a sci-fi film meeting a nature doc.
Raised by instrument-playing parents who introduced her to classic artists like The Beatles and Bo Diddley, Buch grew up in sound. Eventually studying composition at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.
Buch’s talent and creativity are plastered throughout her music. It feels as if Buch acts as an architect, creating a blueprint for the tone and texture to form a space that feels true.
Beginning back in 2017 with her EP Fleshy and dropping her debut album Skinned in 2020, Buch started to gain notice in the underground scene. However, the true genius of her work is shown through the 2023 album Suntub. In which Buch recorded vocals in her Peugeot and re-amped her midi through a car stereo, which helped create that atmospheric and airy sound. Her sound is like no other and is helping drive the indie scene.
However, ML Buch is not the only Danish indie artist reaching this cult following. A leader in the Danish music scene, Elias Rønnenfelt, known for his introspective lyrics and emotive vocal delivery, has made a significant impact in the international art scene. Elias made waves with his experimental EP Lucre with British artist Dean Blunt and his 2025 solo album Speak Daggers. As well, Danish-born but London-based Astrid Sonne, friend and collaborator of Buch, is receiving the same kind of cult following. Astrid brings a similar sound to the table, creating wave-like flows through the use of her viola. Buch and Astrid have collaborated multiple times, with my favourite being My Attitude My Horoscope off of Astrid’s album Outside Of Your Lifetime, on which Buch plays her guitar.
With ML Buch, it's important to let the music take you away. Listen to her album as a whole and zone out for half an hour; it's a weirdly therapeutic experience; it's as if it throws you into a dream state. With Suntub releasing in 2023 and a single releasing in 2024, we haven’t received much from the Danish artist. I, for one, can’t wait to fall back into my sunken place and dissociate for a bit once new work from her comes.
