(I am possibly the only person in the Western world who hasn’t ever listened to Pete Doherty / Babyshambles / The Libertines. I just wouldn’t give the wee nyaff the time of day. So that will explain why, unlike in several other reviews, you will see no references to The Beat Maras sounding like him / them.)
There’s a lot to be said for straight up, no frills guitar-based bands. Bands who, as far as I am aware, don’t rob their mates’ houses or promote their music on the back of their notoriety for escaping jail sentences – for a while anyway.
And so there’s a lot to be said for The Beat Maras. Unfortunately, the superbly entitled album, Bat And The Astral Phoenix, arrived without any sleeve-notes or even track-listings, so that will reduce the word-count somewhat.
On initial play, this album made little impression apart from the first two tracks, which are like a sound collision between The Stone Roses and Oasis, with the second song in particular echoing the hushed vocal talents of Ian Brown.
However, as with all ‘proper,’ good music the appreciation is not necessarily instantaneous and the album may require a few plays for all the subtleties, harmonies and reference points to emerge.
The over-riding comparison must be with The Doors. There is a swirling almost psychedelic feel to much of the album. The vocals are very often the closest I’ve heard to Jim Morrison, and add a slightly sinister mood to proceedings.
All in all, this is an excellent debut album and should it be ‘toured,’ in your neck of the woods, then beat a hasty path to your local venue, as this atmospheric and anthemic music will best be served ‘live’.