WL//WH Review DEATH AND THE MAIDEN
Ōtepoti/Dunedin, New Zealand band Death And The Maiden, named after a nineteenth-century engraving by Edvard Munch which explores love, life and death, released their third album, “Uneven Ground”, on 14 June 2024 via Occultation Recordings (UK/EU) and Fishrider Records (NZ).
It’s a release that is steeped in their rich atmospherics and a sonic journey that mirrors the engraving that is their namesake, full of slowly developing beauty and undercut by a sense of worry at the world. When listening to songs such as the swirling “Not Like” and the build-up and fall-back waves of “River”, it would be a mistake to think that what appears simple on the surface in the sound is actually that simple.
If you take the time to explore the music, you’ll realise that there’s always so much more happening under the surface. While there may appear to be huge amounts of space in the songs, focus your ears and you’ll be rewarded as synths and percussion ripple and dapple or a stutter of tremolo fires off in the distance.
The nine songs on “Uneven Ground” are full of immense care and attention to make it all seem effortless, gliding along in a way that many bands would find hard to emulate. Hope Robertson’s guitars are often restrained, adding texture and mood rather than trying to dominate. Danny Brady conjures jittery laid-back beats and distorted synth textures. All the parts work together to create a widescreen atmosphere such as on “Leanest Cut”, where Lucinda King’s misty vocals pull you in, giving it a borderline spiritual feel.
Is it Electronic music, Psych, Post Punk, Noise Pop? Does it matter when it sounds like this? “Uneven Ground” is brilliantly anything but uneven, there is a mark of quality that runs through the record, with all the sonic landscapes feeling fully explored.
This is a record that invites you to come closer, to let the band wrap you up in sound and help you feel…something. Death And The Maiden are top draw at making music that creates a feeling without telling you what to feel. It’s your feeling, your love, life and death, they’ve just unlocked it from within you.
Written by Jimmy from the band Corasandel
Death And The Maiden‘s third studio album, “Uneven Ground”, is out now, on Vinyl 12″ LP/CD & Digital, via Occultation Recordings (UK) and Fishrider Records (NZ).
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