Choir Of Young Believers

Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, Choir Of Young Believers is one of the brightest new things to come out of Scandinavia in a long time. Fronted by the 26 year old, Danish, Greek and Indonesian Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, this band has been turning heads all over Europe, since the domestic release of their debut album “This is for the white in your eyes” in September 2008.

Starting out as a solo project for Makrigiannis, COYB first appeared in 2007, with the release of the EP “Burn The Flag”. The debut EP earned the band a lot of attention in Denmark. Reviews were great and the single “Sharpen Your Knife” became a massive hit on national radio. Other highlights of 2007 included a memorable performance at Roskilde Festival, a national radio award for “talent of the year” and a Critics Choice Award for “hope of the year”.

In April 2008, recordings of the much anticipated album began. The first single “Next Summer” was released in June 2008 and national radio selected it for pick of the week, while international media such as Pitchfork started showing the band attention. COYB performed at Roskilde Festival in July 2008, and the debut album “This Is For The White In Your Eyes” was released in Denmark in September.

The reviews of “This Is For The White In Your Eyes” were amazing and critics all agreed, that it was “Best Danish Album” of the year. For the rest of 2008, the band toured in Scandinavia, Germany, UK and France.

2009 began with a nomination for the main award and a live performance at the National Radio Awards. COYB were also nominated for six Danish Music Awards (The Grammies) and took home 1 statue for “Best New Act”.

In UK, Chess Club Records released a 7-inch single on with two tracks from the album, with the A-side Action/Reaction” getting good airplay and great reviews in UK press.

The band’s performance at SXSW in March 2009 resulted in a deal with US label Ghostly International, who will release the album in North America on August 14th.

Summer of 2009 will see COYB finishing a highly successful year in Denmark with two sold out shows in front of 2500 people at the National Concert Hall in Copenhagen, performing “This Is For The White In Your Eyes” in its full length, accompanied by The National Radio Symphony Orchestra, in addition to being nominated for seven Critics Choice Awards, winning two for “Best Musician” and “Best Songwriter”

Live, Choir Of Young Believers often performs as a duo, other times they will bring the full 7 piece band including strings and percussion.