Mary Ocher is a recording artist, performer, poet, director and visual artist.Ocher was born Mariya Ocheretianskaya in Moscow, Legally changed to Ocher at age 18. Mary started writing songs as a child. Her first studio recording was at the age of 14 with Idan Raichel. By 19 she formed Mary and The Baby Cheeses in Tel Aviv; A raw folk-punk combo featuring, among other instruments, a theremin and a metal heater for percussion. The band soon gained a small cult following within the local music press and among other musical projects from the circuit. Within two years the band relocated to Berlin, where Mary remained. In its Berlin reincarnation, the band produced several DIY releases.
Mary’s first solo release originally came out on CDR and was sold on the streets, where she used to perform age 20-23. War Songs was eventually re-recorded at a recording studio and released on “Haute Areal”. The album was shortly followed by a limited edition untitled white 7″, which sold out quickly. Her second solo album, EDEN, recorded with King Khan of King Khan and the Shrines and The King Khan and BBQ Show came out on Buback in 2013. EDEN ranked No. 12 in Intro Magazine’s list of Albums of The Year of 2013.
Her third full length release, the debut album with her two drummers “Mary Ocher + Your Government” was released on the legendary krautrock/experimental label Klangbad (led by Faust’s Hans Joachim Irmler). Its follow-up “The West Against The People” was recorded at the Faust Studio with Irmler and released shortly after. The album features an essay analysing the sociopolitical climate at the time, it also features collaborations with Die Toedliche Doris and Felix Kubin. A special edition of the album grants access to further tracks that were revealed gradually throughout 2017. The album was initially announced in Fact, with the tag line: “Prediction: one of the best albums of 2017”. Bandcamp listed the album No. 51 on their “100 Best Albums of 2017”. The second edition of the record was pressed within three months of its release and Ocher went on to perform in some 30 countries within 2 years of its release.
The video for “Arms”, one of the album’s singles, caused a minor controversy with its imagery of Israeli soldiers wandering casually in public spaces and posing with their guns, it was nominated for a MuVi award at Oberhausen film festival (2017), and selected for the Cologne Women’s Film Festival (2018). “The Faust Studio Sessions and Other Recordings” followed shortly, featuring collaborations with Hans Unstern, and Julia Kent on a Robbie Basho cover.
The first new Mary Ocher release since the pandemic was “Approaching Singularity: Music for The End of Time”, recorded at Palazzo Stabile in the north of Italy and mixed with Mike Lindsay of Tunng in Margate. The recordings feature collaborations with Barry Burns of Mogwai, composer Roberto Cacciapaglia, Red Axes, and a homage to Delia Derbyshire. The album is accompanied by a 9 page essay on the future of humanity, determinism and identity politics. Followed shortly after by “Your Guide to Revolution”, its sister release, recorded at the same sessions and released along with the text “A Guide to Radical Living – A no nonsense guide to living comfortably with just enough: Why wealth needs poverty and how not to play along”. Soon followed by a collection of b-sides and remixes from the same sessions “Palazzo Stabile Sessions: Remixes and B-sides” released in July 2024.
