New Artist Of The Day – The Maginot Band

The Maginot Band: Peace And Quiet EP (When You Awake Records)
DL/EP
Due Out: Sept 10th.

Hailing from Caithness in Scotland, The Maginot Band are due to release their debut EP Peace And Quiet in a month’s time, here’s a quick introduction to what’ll probably be a new band to you.

Lead track Slow Down Sundial is a chiming, trippy journey reminiscent of Midlake and Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac. Crystal-clear vocal interplay and a musical backing that at times recalls some of Tom Wait’s fairground carny playfulness gives The Maginot Band a welcome touch of olde-worlde, sepia-toned weirdness.

The band evolved from previous group The Maydays whose sound was straight ahead indie into The Maginot’s sun-dappled, 60’s influenced pop. They sound not unlike a band that would be more at home in LA’s Laurel Canyon scene than windy, wintery Scotland. One can imagine them jamming with David Crosby, Neil Young et al as the sun sets over the blue ocean.

Singer Jordan Shearer has an oaky quality to his voice which is stretched to full effect on Waking Up To Rain(Pt 1).

An aching refrain of ”Abide by the rules that were set before us, like nobody moves and no one gets hurt, and nobody changes we’ll all stay the same” leaves a chill in the listeners bones as hinted at in the title of the song.

Peace And Quiet EP is released on When You Awake Records on Sept 10th.

The Maginot Band are on Soundcloud, Facebook & Twitter.

All words Joe Whyte. More articles by Joe can be found here.