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“One word is too often profaned for me to profane it; one feeling too falsely disdained for thee to disdain it...” Yes, I am reciting Shelley and that means one of two things- I am either in love or am digging something that equates to Shelley’s romanticism. ‘Tis the latter…

After spending time observing the microfinance sector through my Track II work, it was uncanny that as I pondered over Grameen coming to Glasgow, at that exact time I received an email from a close friend in PR about a fantastic band that not only creates ‘Cinematic Fantasy Pop’ music but ardently encourages social responsibility primarily through supporting microfinance schemes. The band got my undivided attention and as I explored further hearing their material, I was whisked away from Glasgow to Gwent, leaving microfinance for Merlin and found myself completely enchanted.

Milla Sunde and Marlow Bevan are The Green Children. Norwegian Milla and Brit Marlow met whilst studying at Sir Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). Their mutual love of music and philanthropy saw the pair set up The Green Children Foundation in 2005 and Sunde and Bevan explored microfinance in the developing world inspired by Grameen Bank founder and father of micro finance, Professor Muhammad Yunus. The Green Children have been supporters ever since and have assisted the Nobel Peace Prize winner with his initiatives including releasing a commemorative CD/DVD, the proceeds of which established the Grameen Green Children Eye Hospital in Bangladesh in 2008.

This week see the release of The Green Children’s debut album- ‘Encounter’. The emerald duo’s debut is an audio fairytale that confiscates all grips on reality and leaves one hopelessly daydreaming. Stunning Milla’s ethereal voice casts an enchanting spell that conjures up a cerebral fantasy that is as much CS Lewis as it is Jean Michel Jarre and Enya. From the uplifting track ‘Dragons’ to edgy ‘We’re the Future’, The Green Children masterfully sprinkle sincere soul and magic into a music scene that requires some much needed fantasy and romanticism.

Milla and Marlow spoke to me from Norway about their epic journey thus far….

MOBO: How did The Green Children come into existence?

Milla: Together we've been on a long journey having several bands together but we decided that when school finished, we would maybe go to LA and New York and London by ourselves and that's when we kind of started The Green Children. The name came about when we were wandering around in a forest in Norway and we were like figuring out names and The Green Children popped into our heads. We're fond of nature and we're always hanging out in the woods so we were like, that's kinda cute and represents what we're like. Then we did some research to see if anybody had that name and this legend of The Green Children popped up. It's the story of a girl and a boy that were found in the medieval times in England and we thought wow, what a coincidence you know? A boy and a girl and there were lots of pictures of them and the boy had dark curly hair and the girl, a little bit older had blonde hair and that's me and Marlow!

MOBO: Could you tell us about your debut album?

Marlow: Well, it's kind of been a long time coming for us because we've been through quite a rollercoaster ever since we left school. Most recently we had a deal with a major label in the US and it didn't really work out for us. It was quite restricting creatively and the business side is very different so we were stuck there for a little while and managed to get out. Recently, we got this new deal through Jackson Browne's label and whilst we were at our former label we were working as hard as we could to finish the record and it's the first thing that we're truly happy with that we've done because we really took charge of every aspect. We produced almost the whole record, played everything on it and it kind of represents us in the best possible way. We feel it's a really true reflection of who we are and we've always loved music that takes people to another place on a journey and we hope we've kind of created that with music. 'Encounter' is coming out in the US and the UK on October 12th.

MOBO: Your style of music is described as ‘Cinematic Fantasy Pop’. Where do you and Milla draw inspiration from?

Milla: Well nature first of all, history; both of us grew up in charming, very historical towns. Marlow lives around the castle in Warwick in England and I lived in the west coast (Norway) by mountains and nature and then you know I think between the two of us we've seen a thousand Fantasy and Sci-Fi movies from a young age, these have inspired us a lot. So all that mix of who we are and where we've grown up and the kind of films we've been watching and music we've been listening to like Enya, Michael Jackson, Bjork and Fantasy artists all mix - MOBO Magazine

The debut from Norwegian singer Milla Sunde and English producer Marlow Bevan kicks off with the mist-shrouded sounds of an enchanted forest - the perfect screen-setter for an album full of what they call "cinematic fantasy pop." Most of "Encounter" glides by like Lady Gaga on a unicorn: Sunde gives synth-diva histrionics a mystical spritz, singing about dragons and black magic over skittering electro beats. The Green Children are about as subtle as 12-year-olds, though there's something sweet about their naive emotionalism: See "Tell Me", where a drowning-witch metaphor is deployed to movingly lament a mother's depression.

Key Tracks: "Tell Me", "Dragons", "Black Magic" - Rolling Stone Magazine

“The Green Children masterfully sprinkle sincere soul and magic into a music scene that requires some much needed fantasy and romanticism." - MOBO

"A breezy, pop-loving delight." –
Modern Tonic.

"Bucking the trends of bubblegum pop...The Green Children are unlike any band I have ever heard of before." - Entertainmentopia
"Glowing mystique with hints of dance hit familiarity" - Zap Town

"I’ve been playing it on repeat since it arrived...'Encounter' is the gauzy goods." - QNotes

"The poetic lyrics with a forceful message, over the top of spellbound beats, conjure up images of a romanticized fairytale." - MusicVita

October 14, 2010 –The Green Children, announce the release of Encounter Remixed. Fueled by the global influence of dance music, the remix album features A-List remixers Moguai, Paul Oakenfold, Digital Dog and many more. The band’s full-length album, Encounter, was released stateside October 12th. The album is distributed by Spinside Records, the artist-centric imprint and new division of Inside Recordings, the independent label formed by Jackson Browne and his management team. "Encounter is a hook fueled, emotional songscape - with powerful tracks and soaring, achingly beautiful vocals . . . ” says Browne of the duo’s release.

Moguai stated, "Working with The Green Children was really an honor for me, I like what they do, their story and what they represent. Milla´s voice is absolutely outstanding, and listening to the original track was so inspiring, that I ended up making two versions of the remix. There were just too many ideas floating in my head. Meeting them after a gig in Düsseldorf (Germany) was a pleasure, it’s the music that connects!"

The track list includes:

1. Encounter (Linus Loves Remix) 6:15

2. Dragons (Paul Oakenfold Remix) 5:48

3. Black Magic (Moguai Remix) 8:34

4. R U Out There (7th Heaven Club Mix) 6:32

5. R U Out There (7th Heaven Radio Edit) 4:30

6. Life Saviour (7th Heaven Club Mix) 6:07

7. Life Saviour (7th Heaven Radio Edit) 3:20

8. Encounter (Dr Kucho! Remix) 7:19

9. Dragons (Digital Dog Club Edit) 6:07

10. Dragons (Digital Dog Radio Edit) 3:11

The Green Children’s latest album, Encounter, has received support from AOL Music, iTunes, and Amazon. The duo, who are endorsed by Lime Crime make-up have been interviewed by Sirius, Westwood One, Faze, and Gibson.

Milla Sunde and Marlow Bevan are The Green Children, a musical duo whose songs blend ethereal pop with post-modern dance beats. The two European-born artists —Marlow’s hometown is Warwick in Central England and Milla hails from Alesund on the west coast of Norway – met while attending the Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts, an English university co-founded by Sir Paul McCartney.

The Green Children’s music reflects their nomadic lifestyles and musical influences ranging from underground trip hop and electronica to alt-rock and classic pop. “We have both traveled quite a lot since we were very young, and are fans of many different kinds of music,” says Marlow. “Our songs come from the heart and the spirit. Sometimes it feels like we almost channel things that have happened along the way. We don’t have any rules about making music.” - Susan Blonde Inc

THE GREEN CHILDREN
LIVE AT THE WEBSTER HALL STUDIO
FRIDAY OCTOBER 15TH, 7:30 PM


DEBUT ALBUM, ENCOUNTER, RELEASED OCTOBER 12TH
RAISED $500,000 THROUGH NORWEGIAN ALBUM SALES AND DONATIONS TO ESTABLISH AN EYE HOSPITAL IN BANGLADESH.
SINCE 2008 IT HAS RETURNED SIGHT TO MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE.
DEBUT SINGLE "DRAGONS" OUT NOW
Stream Snippet

"Enchanting" - The Advocate
"Compelling electro-pop" - About.com


The Green Children announce their a NYC performance, October 15th at the Webster Hall Studio. Their debut album "Encounter" - featuring the single "Dragons" - drops Tuesday October 12th and the band is available for press in New York City October 13th - 15th.

Milla Sunde and Marlow Bevan are The Green Children, a musical duo whose songs blend ethereal pop with post-modern dance beats. The two European-born artists -Marlow's hometown is Warwick in Central England and Milla hails from Alesund on the west coast of Norway - met while attending the Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts, an English university co-founded by Sir Paul McCartney. They are currently signed to Spinside Records, the artist-centric imprint owned by Jackson Browne.

As dedicated as they are to the music (they write and produce all tracks), they are just as dedicated to giving back. Sunde and Bevan recently completed a US tour of schools through Izzit, an organization dedicated to making education compelling for students as well as teachers.

Sunde and Began also established The Green Children Foundation to support microcredit, education and healthcare. These include a hospital in Bangladesh, Whole Planet Foundation/Mircoloans in India, and Green Children Scholarships to those who cannot afford education. Through The Green Children Foundation they raised $500,000 from their Norwegian album sales and donations for the opening of a hospital in Bangladesh. The Grameen Green Children Eye Hospital has already given more than 5,000 people their sight back, with many more to come.

Both Marlow and Milla take creative inspiration from the enchanting legends and scenic wonders of their birthplaces, and their music reflects their nomadic lifestyles. Their music is naturally infused with folklore and magic, lyrically and through its euphoric sounds. The duo's name comes from the British legend of the green children, a mysterious medieval folk tale. - NYC Press Days

"The poetic lyrics with a forceful message, over the top of spellbound beats, conjure up images of a romanticized fairytale." - MusicVita