M3LOMANIA brings you new friends MY SISTER MAURA
you bet they added sax to their Deep Space/Darla debut! and much more too.
Welcome back friends to the show that never ends. Upfront, let us say, this week’s releases (March 22nd) are the best of the year so far. 2024 has given its share of great music - being honest - there is no consistency in the overall releases. Let us hope, this is the beginning of a stellar Spring. (Oh, and there will be music for you below.) Thanks.
FAMILY YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD: MY SISTER MAURA
The Research Triangle in North Carolina has long possessed a near-scientific hold on bands of all stripes and genres incubating and germinating into new plants. The offshoots of the vastly important Shoegaze movement have given us My Sister Maura, a power trio from Raleigh, NC. Guitarist/vocalist Katie Quinn, bassist/vocalist Elijah Hall, and drummer David Moore have just released their debut “So Long” on Deep Space Records (as distributed by Darla.) “So Long” hits that Shoegaze sound hard and winds up sounding punchy like AmerIndie bands of the Eighties (Dinosaur Jr.) and streamlined like the Nineties Alt. Rock takeover (looking at you Juliana Hatfield.) Still, the best aspect of “So Long” is that like so much new Shoegaze, My Sister Maura is comfortable infiltrating regular Pop and Rock. All THREE were kind enough to illuminate us:
MELOMANIA: It seems like since the pandemic broke its hold on everything, Shoegazer-style music and Nineties production has taken hold. What attracted you to those songs of longing written with the whoosh of guitars?
KATIE QUINN: We actually started this project with the intent to hone in on a dark-wave sound. But as we started writing songs together, we were inspired by groups like Cocteau Twins, Duster, and Joy Division, and took things in a more washy and dreamy direction with some elements of post-punk, especially present in the basslines of tracks such as Space Station.
MELOMANIA: After listening to "So Long," we hear a lot of Swirlies, Drop Nineteens, and (especially) in those vocals Juliana Hatfield. What influences did each of you bring in and was there a song you can remember playing where it all coalesced?
MY SISTER MAURA: Katie is a big fan of acts like The Sundays, Jeff Buckley, Japanese Breakfast, The Smiths, Billie Marten, and Chet Baker.
Elijah is influenced by Joy Division, The Cure, The Smiths, Modest Mouse, Slowdive, Pale Saints, Duster, A Country Western, Elliot Smith, and Belle and Sebastian.
Dave is largely influenced by drummers John Bonham and Dave Grohl.
KATIE: There’s quite a bit of overlap in our music interests as well, ranging from Japanese Breakfast and Elliott Smith to The Smashing Pumpkins and The Smiths. In my opinion, Mars defines our sound as a band. We all have a lot of fun playing it, and it really captures the dreamy quality we’re going for while also incorporating that distorted, fuzzy wall of sound found in both classic and modern shoegaze.
MELOMANIA: North Carolina has long had a vibrant scene for up-and-coming bands. How do you feel like the bands around you helped you find your place?
MY SISTER MAURA: The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill indie scene has embraced us with open arms, and everyone has been super supportive of us and our music. We were asked to hop onto our first bill with Saturnalias, another Raleigh shoegaze band, back in October 2022. After that, things started to snowball with booking gigs and meeting other bands in the area. We’ve connected with so many amazing artists and supporters of the local scene. Whether we play for an audience of five or one hundred, we're always stoked to see familiar faces in the crowd which reminds us of how far we've come as a band and how much we've grown since our first gig. It truly feels like a bona fide community. It's all incredibly humbling and gratifying. It is also really great to see the work bands like Wednesday and Truth Club are doing to put North Carolina on the indie rock map.
MELOMANIA: "So Long" takes a lot of chances. When you were making it did you feel like you were able to add everything you wanted to the mixes?
KATIE: One thing I would’ve done differently when recording ‘So Long’ and something to keep in mind for the next LP was the way we recorded the feedback. I love the natural and unpredictable behavior of feedback during a live show, and I wish I had replicated that in the studio. We recorded the album’s feedback as an additional layer and laid it on top of the track which still ended up sounding pretty cool. I also think singing the “Mars” vocals more lazily, almost as if you’re about to fall asleep, would’ve added to the dreamy quality.
MELOMANIA: Was there a particular song on here that shined more once you played it in the studio? Did the time adding/subtracting give it an extra shape?
ELIJAH: “Space Station” really shined a lot in the recording. This song is more energetic live, but the intro of this song with the busy bassline and arpeggiated guitar riff works really well in the recorded setting and has a much stronger impact on me than the more energetic live version.
KATIE: My goal with the wind-chime outro was to craft this immersive soundscape that puts the listener into a trance. I think it’s very addictive and one of my favorite parts of the record.
MELOMANIA: "Silver" dares to add that once present Eighties/Nineties additive - saxophone. When you wrote it were you thinking it needed that touch?
ELIJAH: Initially, I don’t think there was any intention to add saxophone to Silver, but during the recording process of ‘So Long’, I became obsessed with “French Navy” by Camera Obscura with the lead strings section and wanted to incorporate something like that into one of our songs and Silver felt like the best candidate, so I asked my roommate to add some saxophone to the track. It really did not come out sounding anything at all like I expected but it did result in turning some heads.
MELOMANIA: How do the songs compare live to on the LP? A lot of the "loosest" moments where you are just a trio - like "In A Car" or the guitar solo on "Oh My Love" - are riveting because you are almost refusing to fill up the space.
ELIJAH: We went into recording ‘So Long’ wanting a more energetic live sound. After the release of our EP “Faintest Screams”, I wasn’t very happy with how soft the EP felt while live we sounded much louder, thrashy, and distorted. So when recording ‘So Long,’ we tracked guitar, drums, and bass all at the same time in search of a more live feel. “Oh My Love” refuses to fill up the space as we ended up really liking the sound of the solo with the bass holding down the chord progression with no rhythm guitar, although a slowed-down 2 guitar version of this song can be found on our Bandcamp. “In a Car” was the last song written for the album to fill up space, and David wrote the drums to the song in the recording studio, unlike the other songs it was hastily put together, but ended up being one of our favorites.
(MELOMANIA concurs, “In A Car” and “Silver” stay in Heavy Rotation)
MELOMANIA: Are you moving to Darla Records? Does the national release of "So Long" mean you already have the next record planned out? Give us a hint of what to expect?
ELIJAH: Haha no, "So Long" was released physically on Deep Space Recordings and I believe they use Darla as one of their distributors. We are working on a second record right now! The majority of it is written and we are hoping to start the recording process this summer. It may not be until late 2024 or 2025 until our second full-length is released, but there may be some singles dropped before then!
MELOMANIA: Who are you listening to now?
ELIJAH: Like everyone else, I'm bumping feeble little horse and Julie. I have also been obsessing over Horse Jumper of Love and Bleary Eyed.
KATIE: I usually get stuck on an artist for a while, but recently, I’ve been jumping around a lot between several. A couple of tracks that have held my attention lately are “Sports Bar” by Mathew Lee Cothran, “My Finest Hour” by The Sundays, “Night Drive” by Part-Time, and “Superstar” by the Carpenters.
MELOMANIA: What draws you to write a song?
ELIJAH: Writing a song is sort of my ultimate goal with music. Music has this way of taking hold of your emotions and spattering them against the wall. I think some of my most important or memorable moments in life are due to listening to music and how it makes me feel. This is what inspires me to write; I want to write songs that are able to achieve this effect. Something that often feels like an impossible task.
KATIE: I’m drawn to writing beautiful melodies. I really love movie scores and songs with some sort of orchestral arrangement. I do find that I can be very on and off with songwriting. When I sit down to write, I often take a long time developing each component. Being a part of this band has encouraged me to write more frequently and feel more comfortable with imperfection.
MELOMANIA: Will you be touring soon?
MY SISTER MAURA: We plan to do some very small tours this summer but are looking into doing a larger tour a bit further down the road!
For more on My Sister Maura, visit their LINKTREE and access their Youtube, Bandcamp, and Instagram. Many, many, many thanks to Katie, Elijah, and Dave as well as Deep Space and Darla.
As we mentioned, we promise you new music for this week. Our list is mostly the best new releases coming Friday, March 22nd BUT we added several more choice MY SISTER MAURA cuts, as well as what Katie and Elijah are listening to. Plus, three of the current best singles out there this week from future releases. So many thanks to each and every one of you.
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