aaamusic | On 20, Feb 2012

Maia are a four-piece folk band from Huddersfield, but they are certainly not your average folk band. Well, that’s because they aren’t. I called them folk but they are in actuality disco sci-fi folk pop. Quite a combination, right? It does however sum them up quite well. And come on, what else did you expect from a band with a song called Living in the Alligator? And it begs another question, why hadn’t sci-fi folk existed pre-Maia?

Their songs are whimsically diverse, impressively eclectic across a single song. This is especially evident in Constant Play. The use of percussion and trumpet here is spectacular. The vocals are unusual in a way I cannot quite pinpoint, soft-spoken but interesting, almost alien, and there’s something quite tribal about the vocals and percussion on Constant Play.

Living in The Alligator has less of a dreamy feel than Constant play; it’s more upbeat and crazily catchy. It shows more of the disco/pop side of Maia, there are less folk elements here. Slightly reminiscent of the Scissor Sisters, but much edgier and more interesting.

Maia have a very unique sound indeed, however there are enough folk elements present for fans of the folk genre. The blending of genres seems like an odd one but Maia somehow manage to make it work like a charm.

http://maiatheband.com/?p=145 – The videos for both songs are available here, with Constant Play’s video being inspired by the brothers Grimm, which works beautifully for their style.

 

Rose Benge