Maria BC returns with their third studio album, and sophomore Sacred Bones release, Marathon. Born from a sense of urgency, masochistic determination and endurance, Marathon reflects what it means to keep going whether you’re resisting or just surviving, you’re in it for the long haul. On this record, Maria BC delves into themes of resistance, environmental ruin, personal disruptions and destruction, all entwined in musical grit and drive. Where 2023’s Spike Field felt like one long breath, Marathon is a dynamic exploration of endurance, of pushing forward, resisting, observing and surviving. “For this record I decided to spend less time on production and recording and more time on songwriting,” Maria BC explains. “The result, I think, is more thematically consistent, lyrically speaking, and more concise… I set out to make something more dynamic and varied.” On a micro level, Marathon dissects our existence — how it’s driven by personal ambitions, determination, and our desires to make the most of our life. On a macro level, Maria BC analyzes the destructive, extractive energy systems that drive our world: “machines that, at all costs, will keep running until they run themselves into the ground,” as they describe. Written and recorded throughout the West Coast, the album is both expansive and immediate, ranging sonically from aerial acoustic songs, to glitchy distorted tracks channeling chaos and disillusionment, all while maintaining a lyrical through line. Across its thirteen songs Marathon doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, cruelty and complicity, loss and destruction. But it holds out hopefully for connection, intimacy and interference. “Sometimes when I write songs, I imagine the voice that’s singing is a kind of spirit,” they say. “Someone from up above or down below calling out to us in warning — ‘You can’t go on like this.’” Ultimately Marathon tells a story of persistence, of not just one life, but many unfolding across space and time on a fragile Earth.
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