Sometimes I like my beauty fractured.
I first found Maria BC in 2022 through her debut album Hyaline and it was love at first listen. So much so, they have become one of the bands I impatiently wait for something new from. 2023’s Spike Field followed, a desolate slice of quiet lovely that has helped keep me warm through many a storm.
Which brings us to Marathon which arrived last week.
Maria BC returns with their third studio album, and sophomore Sacred Bones release, Marathon. Born from a sense of urgency, masochistic determination and endurance, Marathon reflects what it means to keep going whether you’re resisting or just surviving, you’re in it for the long haul. On this record, Maria BC delves into themes of resistance, environmental ruin, personal disruptions and destruction, all entwined in musical grit and drive.
I hear more danger here, edginess and foreboding amid the ‘grit and drive’, but their voice never fails to feel like a ray of light, a flash of delicate beauty amidst the fracture.