“Pain to Power” is the debut album for British post-rock band Maruja. Before, they were only releasing EPs and singles that, while critically acclaimed and loved, were super short and left the listener wanting more. Now, with their full strength, they can show off their might and power, and they can bring it to the table.
Maruja, with jazz influences, came out of the Windmill scene, characterized by any band that played at the Windmill Pub in London. Two of the most famous bands that have played the scene are Black Midi, Black Country, and New Road. As for post-rock, it is a subgenre that focuses on atmosphere and uses sounds from other genres that aren’t common to rock. They differ when it comes to sound. The unusual aspect is that post-rock can encompass a wide range of genres, including folk, pop, drone, shoegaze, indie, and punk; it doesn’t matter. For example, this album is also considered jazz rock, which means it uses jazz elements in its music, but is post-rock by using droning guitars to make a dark atmosphere that haunts the music. So, in general, if music has a kind of dark or even cinematic atmosphere and is rock, it’s going to be post-rock. With that out of the way, this album is amazing.
The album starts with the opener, “Bloodsport,” immediately plunging into the darkness, with hard-hitting drums and guitars wailing in the background before cutting out for Harry Wilkinson, lead singer, to start singing. The drums continue to be intense with brief moments of spasms. After the first verse, the melody is outlined by a saxophone that guides us through the interstices of the drums and droning guitars. After the chorus, the song slows down again with only the sax and very light drumming to give the song a little bit of edge, while Wilkinson is singing the second verse. The song slowly builds up more and more until the intensity comes back for the final chorus. A very dark opening to the album.
The next track, “Look Down on Us,” was the first single released on May 8. This song continues the same patterns as the first track: intense calm, slow build to a big climax. But this time, they do this for a much longer period of time, lasting about 10 minutes. This may seem super long, but this is nothing to normal post-rock, lasting on average between 15 to 20 minutes per song. One of my favorite albums is from the post-rock genre, and it is about an hour and 30 minutes, but it only has four tracks!
The lyrics of “Look Down on Us” are split into two halves; the first half is in the first three minutes of the song, and the other half is for the rest of the song. In the first half of the song, Wilkinson talks about his disdain for the current political landscape of the world, talking about things like the genocide in Gaza and those who turn a blind eye, and people like Elon Musk making oligarchies or other rich people having too much power in the world and control over people’s lives. The second half shifts vocals to a more calming voice to give hope to people by staying together, supporting your community, and to love, with this last line literally being yelled at the end of the song.
Another track, called “Born to Die,” is by far the longest, coming in at 10 minutes, and it uses its time effectively. The first minute and 30 seconds starts with Wilkinson giving a monologue before the music comes in with a very jazzy feel, voiced by the cry of the sax while assisted by light drumming and drone from a guitar in the background. The monologue comes back after the sax disappears. After this one, the sax stays with a mournful melody that picks up more and more as Wilkinson repeats the question, “Are we all just born to die?” referring to the fact that, even though we can do many great things together, we argue and get nothing done. So Wilkinson is saying that, because we can’t get along, the only thing that will get done in life is death. After a swelling of instruments and drones, it slows down to the end verse, with Wilkinson advising on how to be better than the people who only argue before the track ends with more intense drums and guitars and a weird drone that sounds like a slide whistle going up, down, and all over the place.
Overall, this album is amazing and is one of my top albums of this year. It is currently no. 3 on Album of the Year.com for the best albums of the year. Personally, I’m going to rate this 9.5 out of 10. A must listen for this year.
