6/10

 

 

Vandal Records | 26.11.12

Ever since Mumford and Sons left open the stable door, the shire horse of faux-folk has been running rampant, and generally exhausting its welcome (the less said of Dry The River the better). But Maia are not a bandwagon band milking anotherÔÇÖs cash cow; thereÔÇÖs innovation here. ÔÇ£We invented sci-fi folkÔÇØ boasts the website, and second album Pepper Stars initially seems to concur. Opening track Alien contains modern production not amiss on a Bonobo number, told from the lonely perspective of a visitor from space. It is here we are made privy to Tom CleggÔÇÖs voice, a charming instrument thatÔÇÖs like a more disciplined Stuart Murdoch, via Bowie. The latterÔÇÖs obsession with cosmic themes is laced throughout, and Dear Io, dedicated to JupiterÔÇÖs smallest moon, is the albumÔÇÖs highlight, informing the little satellite ÔÇ£You shouldnÔÇÖt be volcanic at all.ÔÇØ

It is at once charming and funny; the problem is that sci-fi and folk are, obviously, pretty uncomfortable bedfellows. ┬á And while the two can gel together briefly, in admirable lead single Zuma Aluma for instance, or Jethro Tull, they must┬ásoon part, and the last few tracks of Pepper Stars abandon their grand galactic visions and return to trite prison-issue harmonicas. Perhaps Maia will eventually reconcile their influences; weÔÇÖre not quite there yet.

Jimmy Dunne