John Maus + Spike

JOHN MAUS is a truly enigmatic musician. Broadly cut from the synth pop cloth, he’s fashioned the frosty minimalism of its fabric into a cloak of infinite meaning, genuine grace and absurdist humor over the course of four defining albums since 2006. His music is a highly mutable affair, whilst often described as retro-futurist on behalf of the 80’s drum machines and synth sounds employed, John’s music is more personal than the nostalgic re-tread implied. There’s a cinematic quality to his songs, with pathos conjured through propelling bass-lines, trailing arpeggios and of course his deeply resonant vocal. Moroder helped map out the territory but Maus is more interested in seeking cadence through his love of Renaissance polyphony and the experimentation behind post punk. It’s an amalgamation of musical ideas as radical as its intent.

Maus is a ‘man out of time’ trying to make sense of the inhumanity of our world through his mobilisation of the language of punk rock. His aim is true as he reaches for the seemingly impossible. It’s a want to emerge as part of greater multiplicity, to appear, to become, to connect that powers his songs and the man himself. It’s now been 12 years since the widely lauded album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (2011) appeared like a thunderbolt of maniacal energy and turned everyone’s heads. Now regarded an experimental pop classic, Pitiless Censors was a huge breakthrough for Maus as a recognised artist and led to a vast reappraisal of his past work. 2018 saw the release of his most recent work Screen Memories and its sister release Addendum. Screen Memories unfolds like a pageant, with its variety of songs tendering sunshine and shadow throughout. Maus is currently preparing a new album.

https://johnmaus.bandcamp.com

SPIKE is the synth-pop project of Hannah McLoughlin. Released on Gob Nation Records (The Tubs, Sniffany & The Nits, PC World), Spike’s debut EP builds on a tradition of idiosyncratic British synth-pop, bringing to mind the cold-yet-intimate work of Rose McDowell and Roger Doyle. As an experimental musician, McLoughlin shape-shifts between dungeon synth, left field trad folk and film scoring. With Spike, McLoughlin fully embraces her talent for pop songcraft, creating high intensity live performances.

https://gobnation.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-4

\* Photo by Paul Maffi

Presented by Upset The Rhythm.

This is an 18+ event