#maria bc

[grrlmusic]

Maria BC - Marathon

[adrianoesteves]

[audiojunkyard]

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[dustedmagazine]

Maria BC — Spike Field (Sacred Bones)

A spike field is an attempt to communicate across time and language: an assemblage of granite “thorns” laid out across a nuclear waste site to denote its uninhabitability. Such a vivid image of desolation also speaks to our attempts to protect future generations from the mistakes of the past. How do we move forward when our predecessors have caused such devastation? It’s a fittingly bleak image and basis for reflection prior to hearing Maria BC’s new album, their first for New York label Sacred Bones.

Over the course of Spike Field’s 50 minutes, the songs’ prevalent mood can prove hypnotic if you’re receptive to its atmosphere. MBC is certainly adept at conjuring and sustaining a melancholy, nocturnal scene. The insistently strummed or plucked acoustic guitar figures, close mic’d and drenched in reverb, suggest the music may be building towards a climax, but the songs rarely offer the cathartic release of a crescendo, more often than not shimmering and fading into a shadowy afterglow. The main exception is the album’s potent opening one-two of “Amber” and “Watcher.” On the former, glitchy and distorted swells dapple the song’s central guitar arpeggios, while the latter features the album’s most exultant moment, as ascending harmonized voices strive towards transcendence from the gloom.

The discordance of the guitars on “Tied” suggests the atmospherics of Sonic Youth at their most eerie and subdued, while the fragments of lyrics that rise up out of the murk, such as “with blistered hands,” present images that are left to hang uncomfortably. This approach is most memorable on “Amber,” as the line “Your scent is on me now” is repeated, yet it’s unclear if MBC is luxuriating in or repelled by the prospect. “Haruspex” introduces some more variety to the arrangements with its prominent shuffling drums, while the instrumental title track traces out its desolate theme on wavering piano.

Overall, Spike Field’s closest recent cousin is probably last year’s Skullcrusher album, Quiet the Room. While Helen Ballentine’s debut felt intimate and haunted, Maria BC conjures a more dread-filled atmosphere, in which moments of beauty are barely able to banish the persistent shadows.

Tim Clarke

[iamthecrime]

[chaospanics]

[authoroftheaccident]

Musically, the EP [Devil’s Rain] is gorgeous and sparse, with Maria’s classical training as a mezzo-soprano mixing with hushed pop melodies and a love for the quiet grandeur of Grouper. In order not to disturb their neighbours and roommates during lockdown, Maria had to write and record the music on ‘Devil’s Rain’ quietly. The forced constraint helped them craft the songs as something approaching “hymns or lullabies.” “Normally I belt when I sing,” they say. “It constrained the melodies I could write, knowing I would need to be singing quietly, and it meant I couldn’t rely on certain old tricks to craft an arc.” This added layer of intimacy onto an already stark emotional period is stunningly portrayed on ‘Devil’s Rain’; it feels like you’re right there in the apartment with them.

[faunakii]

                              birdie vine; for maria’s bc (@peakanss)    

aspiration: musical genius traits: loves the outdoors, dog lover, goofball

a lil bit abt her:

- she is a lil squish :]

- she has 3 lil sisters + one older sis,, so she’s been around gorls her whole life !!

- loves 2 give + recieve forehead kissies :]

- her dream day is just sitting outside on a warm day, in a field w/ her guitar, journal + her dogs n just cloudgazing n writing songs all day !!!

- her aesthetic is def sunflowery vintage-y

- loves sunflowers!!!!!!literally her favorite thing ever (+ is her fav color)

- she has 2 corgis!!!! + they r her babies,, she spoils them 2 much :]

- she is shy around ppl she doesn’t know, but once u get 2 know her she is super open w/ u !!

- she is v sweetie pie,,, n she loves old ppl,,,, her bbies,,,

- loves 2 tell jokes,, a lot !! she is the tension breaker when things get awk :]

- loves 2 laugh, n ppl say she has a rlly pretty laugh but if u make her laugh too hard she snorts + she is v self-conscious abt it :-[

- collects/has an obsession w/ smol versions of everyday things,, like lil teapots, soaps, hairbrushes,,, so useless but she loves them :]

- her fav song rn is this one :]

- has a lil crush on maria !! <3

phew i think that’s abt it !!! im so excited i hope u n maria like her karen i love u so much bb !!!! ♥

+ private download unless not picked :o]