Marsicans [unedited]

Marsicans

Marsicans
(2018)
Interview & Review

           Marsicans, whose name when Googled shows Wikipedia articles of "Marsican Brown Bears" who are critically endangered and are protected animals in Italian national parks. However, I doubt an Italian brown bear was the inspiration behind the band's name. James was more inspired by "my grandad was always playing piano at his house when I was young and he'd teach us the old blues song to play along to. My cousin started playing guitar when he was in his teens as well and he started teaching me. I think I was around 10 at the time."
      The Leed's four-piece indie-pop band started releasing tracks in late mid-2014 but started on May 3rd, 2011. The band has made Unedited Music Blog's 2nd 2018 headliner for not only making addictive music but also having an incredibly fast-growing fanbase (over 7k Facebook followers, and over 5k Instagrams follows). They have also played at big UK festivals including Kendall Calling (noon (GBT) on July 27th, 2018), Leeds Festival (July 2018), a good amount of sold-out shows in the UK, and a European tour in 2017. Many other reasons why they are my top artist of this week and I'm sure more factors will come up further down the road.
      John: "unlike other bands I’ve gotten to know, there is some information filled out by fans on your Genius (a popular song meaning website online) song’s bio and verses. Is the information on there accurate?" James: "I didn't know that! I just had a quick look and most of it is correct. There's the odd wrong lyric but I'm impressed. Some of the song meanings are different from how they were intended to be perceived, but that's the beauty of lyrics I guess; they resonate differently depending on your own experiences."

     Chivalry EP was released in early September of 2014 and is their largest EP collection. A lot of rock songs sound the same sometimes, and unfortunately somewhat true for Chivalry. All the songs are heavy on the guitar and repetitive progression of verses and choruses. I say this all the time about rock bands and their songs, and when I first listened to the EP my only hopes were that this wouldn't be true for their newer music. Although it may sound like I'm trashing on them for this record, well I am not entirely because I gave them a pretty good rating. In other words, I do still enjoy listening to tracks like Terrapin, Chivalry, Scuba, and the other tunes. And yes, that means I will always like a normal rock song... I just like songs to be eclectic at the same time.
        Almost a year later Gone in a Second was released in April, and I was pleasantly amused by this two-track song single. While the song is brilliant, I didn't care for the remix... It didn't sound a lot different than the original song (that's me putting it nicely). On the other hand, the original song had a brilliant balance of all instruments versus just being another rock song. The simplicity of the rhythm guitar allowed for the lead guitarist to play a very nice and uplifting guitar riff. Overall, without the remix, I enjoyed this album more than I did the EP.
     Then comes their first album called Absence (Deluxe Edition) on September 16 of 2016, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear if they're popularity came from this album. Their songs, again, have a beautiful balance of all their instruments, but in this album, they seem to have found "their sound". They seem to get what they wanted to sound like, which is a lot like American Authors, Band of Horses, and hell even Airways. There's even a little electric piano hinted in songs like Swimming. The remixes are a hell of a lot different than the Pigeon's remix, and was actually different than the originals! Swimming (Will Featherby Remix) has an awesome bass drop and EDM beat to it, Arms of Another (Pixel Fix Remix) is a more chill/tropical house version of the song, and Far Away (String Quartet Version) is definitely in my Orchestra-like Spotify playlist.
      Shoutout to Sophie Pearson for doing a lovely duo version of Absence with James Newbigging and the rest of the band. If you're reading this, please remember that you have a wonderfully sweet voice. This version had truly more emotion and uniqueness than the original, and that was a great surprise.
    Marsicans seem to have stuck with their unique sound. Following their Absence album, they released Friends (single) in February of 2017. Then in that same year, they released Too Good (single) in July. This song is actually their most popular song next to Swimming, and that's probably because how catchy and contagious the songs are. Next, still in the same year, Throw Ourselves was released in November.
            James remarks on their fanbase to be "very funny", and enjoy joking around with them on social media. It's unknown if they are currently working on new material, but I know for sure they have a huge UK tour from July 7th to October 6th. The tour includes gigs at Kendal Calling (July 27th), Gopsal Hall Farm (August 3rd), 110 Above Festival (August 5th), Leeds Festival (August 24th), and many more. I would like to thank their general manager Rob for continuing to keep in touch and James for replying to my interview. A truly remarkable group you guys have got, and I see a bright future for Marsicans!


Too Good (single)
Facebook- Profile Pictures
Overview: ★★★★1/4
Wake Up Freya: ★★★★★
Throw Ourselves In: ★★★★★
Too Good: ★★★★★
Friends: ★★★★1/4
Absences (Deluxe Edition Album): ★★★★★
Gone in a Second: ★★★★1/2
The Chivalry EP: ★★★★☆

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