March 20th sees the NZ release of the self-titled debut album by Dunedin trio Death And The Maiden.
While traveling through Berlin in 2012, Lucinda King ripped a sketch of a skeleton and a woman from a book, and stored it in her wallet. The piece was Death and the Maiden, a 19th Century engraving by Edvard Munch. It is an artwork steeped in mythology, one which explores the dark bounds between love and death, frailty of beauty, and beauty of decay.
On her return to New Zealand, Lucinda (bass guitar, vocals) began to make music with Danny Brady (synth and drum programming), then welcomed guitarist and drummer Hope Robertson to the fold, and Death and the Maiden was born.
On their debut album, the group craft a shadowy sound world, filled with drowsy mechanical drums, melancholic synth arpeggios, reverb-drenched guitars, and sighing vocal melodies. The combination is both hypnotic and devastating, as Lucinda explores themes of love, loss, and decay, wrapped in tactile electro-acoustic languor.
Despite the sense of loss and darkness on this record, there is a bittersweet hopefulness at the core. Death and the Maiden are seeking to create a feeling, something that lasts. The result of this effort is a stunning record, its soaring sonic beauty a counterpoint to its sombre haunting tone - a party record for heartbroken romantics.
Death And The Maiden play at Wine Cellar in Auckland on Friday 27 March with i.e. crazy and at Moon in Newtown, Wellington on Saturday 28th March with Signer.
Death And The Maiden is available on LP, CD and Digital formats from record stores from 20 March and can also be ordered at http://fishriderrecords.bandcamp.com/
