- Searing beauty informed by punk, club and Iranian folk music.
- It's only taken five or so years for Maral to get to a point where she can collaborate with seasoned artists including Panda Bear, Crass member Penny Rimbaud and the late Lee "Scratch" Perry. The Los Angeles artist has honed what she describes as a "folk club" sound, and she's previously cited alien worlds as sources of creative inspiration. Her music has an otherworldly quality that captures the essence of a blisteringly hot day. Shimmering mirages of beauty poke through bright layers of pummeling discomfort. Her new album, Ground Groove, initially came to life as part of an audiovisual project alongside notably trippy digital artist Brenna Murphy for 2021's online Rewire Festival, and arrives via New Age stalwart LEAVING RECORDS. It provides a dissonant-but-welcome contrast to the imprint's vibey recent releases from musicians including Time Wharp, more eaze and Sam Wilkes.
Ground Groove is united by a sonic palette drawn from plugged-in rock instruments, crunchy percussion and a layer of thick, dubby effects. Samples from Maral's personal archive of Iranian folk, pop and classical LPs are also crucial to her eclectic formula. But the tracks here also call to mind '70s German acts like Can, Faust and Harmonia. "Walk And A Talk" underlines warped vocal and woodwind tones with sparse-but-driving drums, until things pivot into an unexpected trap outro. Opener "Feedback Jam" lives up to its title, built on a disentangled groove, unearthly echoes and lots of feedback. "Avaz-e-Dal" flirts with trip-hop, playing like a Sneaker Pimps track blasted in the basement from a horror movie.
Most of the cuts on Ground Groove are concise and fiery, but there are still moments of calm nestled in all the introspective murk. "Heart Shimmer" embraces blocky downtempo, supported by crisp drum machines that weave inky outlines through lush pads and chirpy melodies. On "That's Okay, Ruin It," jagged downbeats are offset by woodwind samples that grow to dominate the track, slowly pushing things into ambient ether. Closer "Glimmer's Kiss" is marked by aural peaks and valleys, as resonant kick drums churn beneath burbling, sample-based textures. It's both urgent and freewheeling.
Maral grew up studying the setar (a type of Persian lute that still appears in fractured snippets throughout her current music), but then got into playing punk and emo in her teens and early 20s. In college, she started making beats and DJing, all the while studying Iranian music between yearly trips to Tehran. "A big part of Iranian classical music is transcending beyond the notes. You first have to memorize… this ancient repertoire of music. And then after you've memorized this repertoire, it's up to you to play it in your own way. And that really influenced me, because the same thing can be applied to DJing," she told FACT in a 2020 documentary, speaking on the throughline between classic Middle Eastern records and contemporary experimental techniques. Ground Groove builds on her streak of using the legacies of post-punk and electronic music to challenge Western ideals—the sound of a singular avant-garde artist still proudly indebted to the exploration of culture and tradition.
Tracklist01. Feedback Jam
02. Heart Shimmer
03. Avaz-e-Del
04. Hold My Hand, Go For a=A Walk
05. That's Okay, Ruin it
06. Shy Night feat. Brenna Murphy
07. Come Around
08. Behind the Rock And Into The Tunnel
09. Mari's Groove
10. A Walk and A Talk
11. Glimmer's Kiss