News: The April Maze Detail New Album ‘Sleeping Storm’
2 min read
(UK) Beloved indie duo The April Maze launch 2015 with their highly anticipated new studio album Sleeping Storm. Steeped in their signature haunting harmonies, masterful cello/vocal hybrid and vintage 60s/70s vibe, Sleeping Storm is an album for the lost, the disenfranchised, and the lovelorn.
Whilst still firmly grounded in their folk roots, this new offering moves toward a more prog folk- rock sound, bent in the spirit of Mumford and Sons with a dreamy darkness akin to Fleet Foxes and First Aid Kit. The album opens with the hushed Sleeping Storm where banjo, cello and Sivan Agam’s honeyed vocals rise, fall and intertwine, followed by the lyrical melancholy of I’ve Seen the Rain, dedicated to the sudden death of a friend at sea; and Scout Hall, which narrates the origins of the duo’s hearts-on-their-sleeve love that they are so adored for. Anthemic folk-rock stomps punch through with Don’t Let the Bastards Bring You Down (about bullying), anti-coal-seam gas protest song Leave it in the Ground and The Bishop Who Ate His Boots (a quirky true story about Todd’s great-grandfather).
The April Maze are duo Todd Mayhew and Sivan Agam who formed 7 years ago in Melbourne and leapt into the spotlight in 2012 when their second album, an intimate stripped-back covers album Two went global. Capturing over 70,000 plays in the first week of release, Two featured in the top 100 favourite new releases of the world’s biggest music streaming service Spotify alongside Lana Del Ray & Birdy.
Now fresh off winning the hearts of the British with rave reviews, national airplay, sell out shows and securing London management, The April Maze are taking their music to the next level. With Agam’s soul-folk vocals likened to Cass Elliott accompanied by her ‘growling cello’ combined with Mayhew’s impassioned vocals and spirited banjo and guitar playing, their music glows with the streets of 70s San Francisco.
Sleeping Storm was produced by Tim Carr (Matt Corby, Gurrumul, Mark Ronson, JayZ, Flea) at 301 Studios Sydney and was crowd funded by dedicated fans of the duo. The April Maze’s essence is best caught live – their warm, intimate show will have you firmly addicted. With spectral dustbowl blues, vengeful hoedowns and pared back swoon songs The April Maze’s sound is for all-weather – to curl up with on rainy days, to hold fast to in inclement weather, or to dance to in a sun-soaked summer.
