Non-binary, California -based artist Maria BC has a duality to their work. This, their third album, occupies liminal spaces between sleeping and awake states. Their gorgeous ambient sounds can turn from soothing to jarring. It keeps the listener on their toes.
Maria BC is a classically trained vocalist, and it shows. Their range is subtle and varied. “For this record I decided to spend less time on production and recording, and more time on songwriting,” Maria BC explains. “The result, I think, is more thematically consistent, lyrically speaking, and more concise… I set out to make something more dynamic and vast”.
So while ‘Sabotage’ is akin to the febrile, sleepy seduction of Goldfrapp, circa her Black Cherry era, ‘Port Authority’ mines the darker side of electronic legends like Autechre and Aphex Twin. ‘June’ has the floaty prettiness of early Air, but their haunting, sweet vocals take flight on ‘May This Rain’, ‘Night & Day’ and the gorgeous ‘Miami’.
In essence, these delicate contrasts in sonics operate like a somnambulist who is gently taken by the arm and taken back to bed, lest they do something dangerous while asleep. It’s fragmentary, lovely music for our divided, troubled but tentative times.
Out via Sacred Bones on February 27th
Hit The North 