If I slid you a piece of paper that read, “My new band will be like PiL meets dream pop with a dash of rap, just because” you'd probably cringe, light the paper on fire and stare me down, in order to display without words how the world has no space for my new band. It just sounds god-awful when read.
Maria Minerva's new single, “Fire”, though is those influences stacked upon one another to make a delicious experimental shooter. This is the sonic equivalent to finding out vodka chased with pickles is incredible, but you could never truly know until you try it. Seriously, try it.
Off her Will Happiness Find Me? LP, “Fire” crawls in with a dub-reggae bassline (all praise be to Jah Wobble) and Maria's heavenly echoes that connect to the ethereal with the layering of dreamy synths. It's jolting when Chase Royal interrupts with a verse, but it's not unreasonable. In the 70s English punks sought Jamaican dub, a genre that plays a role in the inception of hip hop in the South Bronx. Hip hop has traveled across the pond, giving us the Grime sound. Is this not us coming full circle? “Fire” is like the steady revolution of a record, you can only slightly make out the inscriptions until it hurts your eyes. It's best to enjoy the sound, rather than chase the spinning liner notes.
Maria Minvera's Will Happiness Find Me? is out September 4 on Not Not Fun.
