Following the spellbinding Devil’s Rain EP from last year, Maria BC has announced their debut album: it’s called Hyaline and comes out on May 27 through Father/Daughter / Fear Of Missing Out. The album is preceded by lead single “The Only Thing”, with Maria saying it’s “about allowing yourself to be seen fully by another person. When you find they aren’t afraid, you realize you shouldn’t be either.”
They continue: “It took me a bunch of tries to finish the arrangement for this one. It felt too sparse, while the song is about that full, effervescent, sun-is-coming-up feeling of new love. I spent several weeks adding parts and scrapping them — you know, getting nowhere. Then, at some point, I realized the refrain of another song I was working on had the same chord progression as ‘The Only Thing’ refrain. I turned that into a kind of counter-melody, Liz Fraser style, and I think it tied the whole thing together.”
“The Only Thing” shows clear progression from Maria BC while maintaining the subtle elements that made their music so captivating on Devil’s Rain. Their voice beams through brighter and more powerfully, but, at points, recedes to breathy fragility – as if the love they’re feeling has knocked the wind out of them. Acoustic guitar flutters in circles beneath Maria’s ephemeral and vivid snapshots of love, while he atmosphere is more developed than we’ve heard before in their music. The drums puncture the track’s peaceful blanket of contentedness, beating like the singer’s heart shaking their whole body. Towards the end, very thin curlicues of synth circle around their voice, like the magical truth of love turned into sound – and listening to “The Only Thing” is to be pulled into that profound feeling, even briefly.
Listen to “The Only Thing” via the video below or find it on streaming platforms.
Maria BC’s debut album Hyaline will be out on May 27 through Father/Daughter / Fear Of Missing Out (pre-order/save). You can find them on Bandcamp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
They’ve also got these dates ahead:
Feb 22 – San Francisco, CA @ Gray Area (Noise Pop w/ Arooj Aftab)
Mar 8 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar (w/ Squirrel Flower & Tenci)
Mar 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo (w/ Squirrel Flower & Tenci)
Mar 10 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop (w/ Squirrel Flower & Tenci)
Mar 12-13 – New York, NY @ New Colossus
Mar 15-20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
May 11-14 – Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape
Aug 18-21 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival
