Choir of Young Believers

Choir of Young Believers

Choir of Young Believers is a Copenhagen-based group that forms around Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, a Danish, Greek and Indonesian musician who also moves in the Danish indie underground and was previously part of Lake Placid. The group is active from 2006 and includes Anders Rhedin, Lasse Herbst and Jannis Noya Makrigiannis.

Early recordings and sound

From 2006, Makrigiannis works on solo material that becomes the basis for Choir of Young Believers. The debut EP, Burn The Flag, is built from songs written in Berlin, Copenhagen and on the Greek island of Samos, where he lives for a period. The material starts as acoustic demos and is later arranged with producer Anders Rhedin, who plays a major role in shaping the group’s sound.

Musically, the project sits between chamber pop, indie folk, low-key folk and grand indie pop, with a sound that draws on both Nordic restraint and direct emotional presence. The band’s references include Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, Pixies and Hank Williams.

Releases and reception

Choir of Young Believers signs to the Danish label Tigerspring, which releases Burn The Flag nationally in May 2007. The EP reaches number 4 on the Danish singles chart. The track Sharpen Your Knife is chosen as pick of the week on Denmark’s biggest national radio station and spends up to eight weeks at number 1 on the national indie chart.

The group then performs at Roskilde Festival and tours Denmark in autumn 2007. In early 2008, it wins two major Danish awards for talent of the year and hope of the year, before releasing its first full-length album, This Is for the White in Your Eyes, later that year.

Live line-up

Choir of Young Believers performs in different configurations. At times it appears as a solo act with guitar or piano; at other times it plays with up to eight musicians on stage, including strings and percussion.