{"id":1601,"date":"2012-11-12T17:54:51","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T17:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/?p=1601"},"modified":"2012-11-12T17:54:51","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T17:54:51","slug":"maia-pepper-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/music\/maia-pepper-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Maia &#8211; Pepper Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/11\/Maia-Pepper-Stars-Cover-large1.jpeg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1603\" title=\"Maia-Pepper-Stars-Cover-large\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/11\/Maia-Pepper-Stars-Cover-large1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/11\/Maia-Pepper-Stars-Cover-large1.jpeg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/11\/Maia-Pepper-Stars-Cover-large1-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/11\/Maia-Pepper-Stars-Cover-large1-300x300.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><!--more--><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vandal Records | 26.11.12<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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 another&#8217;s cash cow; there&#8217;s innovation here. &#8220;We invented sci-fi folk&#8221; boasts the website, and second album <em>Pepper Stars<\/em> initially seems to concur. Opening track <em>Alien<\/em> 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 Clegg&#8217;s voice, a charming instrument that&#8217;s like a more disciplined Stuart Murdoch, via Bowie. The latter&#8217;s obsession with cosmic themes is laced throughout, and <em>Dear Io<\/em>, dedicated to Jupiter&#8217;s smallest moon, is the album&#8217;s highlight, informing the little satellite &#8220;You shouldn&#8217;t be volcanic at all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is at once charming and funny; the problem is that sci-fi and folk are, obviously, pretty uncomfortable bedfellows. \u252c\u00e1 And while the two can gel together briefly, in admirable lead single <em>Zuma Aluma<\/em> for instance, or <em>Jethro Tull<\/em>, they must\u252c\u00e1soon part, and the last few tracks of <em>Pepper Stars<\/em> abandon their grand galactic visions and return to trite prison-issue harmonicas. Perhaps Maia will eventually reconcile their influences; we&#8217;re not quite there yet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jimmy Dunne<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>6\/10 &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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