Inspired by artists as diverse and commanding as James Brown, David Bowie, and David Maranha, Marching Church is the brainchild of Iceage's Elias Bender Rønnenfelt. He started the project in 2010 but began working on it in earnest in late 2013, a few months before a scheduled show with Pharmakon. Rønnenfelt recruited collaborators including Lower's Kristian Emdal and Anton Rothstein, Hand of Dust's Bo Høyer Hansen, Puce Mary's Frederikke Hoffmeier, and Choir of Young Believers' Sonja La Bianca, all of whom helped him flesh out his ideas via freewheeling improvisation. The result was 2015's debut album This World Is Not Enough, which was released via Posh Isolation and Sacred Bones. The chemistry Rønnenfelt had with these players was so strong that Marching Church became a full-fledged band, with Emdal, Rothstein, and Hansen joining the permanent lineup along with Iceage's Johan S. Weith and trumpet player Jakob Emil Lamdahl. Puce Mary, CTM, and Nils Gröndahl joined the group for 2016's Coming Down: Sessions in April, a 21-minute free jazz excursion taken from a two-hour improv session. That October, the band's slightly more unified second album, Telling It Like It Is, appeared and featured contributions from La Bianca as well as members of the Stargaze Orchestra. ~ Heather Phares