Mardeen
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Mardeen

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2008 | SELF

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada | SELF
Established on Jan, 2008
Band Rock Indie

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Music

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"NOW Toronto Live Review"

Cape Breton natives Mardeen – cited by Alvvays' Molly Rankin as a major influence and whose pop gem Telephones was covered by Mo Kenney on her recent album – played smart power pop earlier in the night for a large crowd who only partially returned the love. Their insider-joke banter fell a bit flat but their hooky guitar rock is exceptionally muscular, brilliantly melodic and full of arrangement twists and biting lyrics.

Telephones and Silver Fang (from their recent Joel Plaskett-produced EP) were standouts, though the former is a good example of how they might be too smart for their own good. Whereas Kenney's achieves immediate liftoff, Mardeen's bare-bones, fuzz-bass-heavy deconstructed-pop version leaves us begging for a payoff that doesn't come. Destined to remain musicians' musicians forever? Let's hope not. Get on board, people. - NOW Toronto


"Concert Review + Photos: Screaming Females, Mardeen, and The Folk @ The Silver Dollar – Toronto"

Mardeen took the stage and caught everyone’s attention instantaneously. In terms of songwriting, they blew me away. Their lyrics were strong and their arrangements were enticing. The up beat and very danceable, beautifully melodic power pop had everyone alert and watching, but barely engaging. I think this was due in part to the strange stage banter. It might have made sense to the band – although I’m not sure – but it was totally lost on the audience. It felt like Mardeen played more at us than to us. Regardless, keep an eye out for this exceptional Cape Breton based four piece. - A Music Blog, Yea?


"Nova Scotia Music Week 2014 Live Review"

Cape Breton power pop band Mardeen set the tone for a night of indie pop and rock at Champions on Saturday night. The band, comprised of cousins Matthew Ellis, Travis Ellis and Jon Pearo, along with non-relative Archie Rankin, played as a slimmed-down four-piece without usual drummer Jason Burns. The power pop ballads were heart-on-your-sleeve style, where you sing along and say what you’re really feeling. The two guitars took a back seat and left all the catchy hooks in the vocals. Vocalist and bass player Matthew Ellis’s hair seemed like a physical manifestation of the bands sound, long emo-sidehair along with what we would classify as an indie hipster band. Emotional indie music, all in one tidy package.
Photo: Jonathan Briggins/Mixtape Magazine - Mixtape Magazine


"Weakerthans, Kathleen Edwards, Holy F, and seven other artists who need to put out a new album in 2015"

It's been just two years since Cape Breton's amazing Mardeen, the Weezer of Canada, released their last album (Miss You Forever, 2012), BUT: with rumours swirling that Alvvays's hit song "Archie, Marry Me" is about Mardeen guitarist Archie Rankin, it seems Mardeen should be riding the wave with an "answer" song ASAP. The only potentially awkward part is that Archie is actually cousins with Molly Rankin, and related to at least one other member of Alvvays. What happens in the Maritimes stays in the Maritimes. Don't judge! Also: Mo Kenney's (no family relation) new single is a Mardeen cover. The time is now. - CBC Music - Grant Lawrence


"AUX TV PREMIERE"

Mardeen are one of Nova Scotia’s finest, and two years after the release of Miss You Forever seem poised to claim the Halifax by way of Cape Breton power-pop crown with Silver Fang, their new EP which we’re excited to premiere below.

Silver Fang jumps off almost immediately, transitioning from the title track’s early acoustic vibes into an energetic bounce that carries throughout the next two songs, riding through “DC Fan”‘s rolling percussion into the textured melodies of “Backroads.”

At just three songs, Silver Fang checks every box; it’s an EP that’s certainly short, but just as quickly leaves you wanting more. - AUX TV


"Mardeen - Silver Fang"

It feels like forever and a day since East Coast indie stalwarts Mardeen‘s Miss You Forever rocked our world; in music industry terms 2012 is like the middle ages.

Alas, my fellow faithful followers of Halifax’s foot-stompin’ good-time rockers, Mardeen have returned, and it’s with tidings of glee I bring you music and words from a most recent development: “Silver Fang” will bear down on your ears with its fierce and frantic sing-song chorus and awaken your consciousness to the salty sensibility of our Atlantic-borne brethren.

“Silver Fang”, the title track of Mardeen’s new EP, premieres exclusively on Quick Before It Melts today. Guitarist Travis Ellis says the song was “…written about an experience during a writing retreat in a cabin north of Montreal that involved unexplained events and severed brake lines.” Apparently, beds were collapsing to the floor in the middle of the night in different rooms, and band member Matt Ellis had a vision of a ghostly silhouette carrying all their guitar cases standing outside his bedroom. On top of that, they discovered their van had been sabotaged in the middle of the night. - Quick Before It Melts


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

Photos

Bio

"Smart power pop..get on board people" - NOW Toronto

"Canadians with pop edge. Nice" - Marc Maron

"Mardeen, the Weezer of Canada" - Grant Lawrence, CBC Radio 3


Nova Scotian indie rock stalwarts Mardeen return to the fold with Silver Fang. More than two years since releasing their introspective-leaning full-length, Miss You Forever, Silver Fang finds the band once again proving themselves to be the champions of blistering East Coast power pop.

Recorded at the Echo Chamber in Halifax, NS with Charles Austin (The Super Friendz) and mixed by award-winning engineer Laurence Currie (Sloan, Wintersleep, Holy Fuck), Silver Fang features three singalong-worthy tracks that showcase the band's relentless penchant for addictive hooks and captivating melodies.

Originally from Cape Breton, Mardeen has been writing and performing music together since their early teenage years. Consisting of three cousins and a close friend, the band has been nominated for East Coast Music and Nova Scotia Music Awards and received critical acclaim for their back catalogue.

Band Members