Sporting a great vocal range and fun riffs within their songwriting, Maripool is set to be the next big thing on the indie scene. Discovering her music shortly after moving to London, I became attached to the DIY production style, the look of the videos, and the melancholic feel of the music, and felt it more than necessary to nag them until they gave me an interview. As the London-based outfit release their next EP “It All Comes At Once”, I babble on my silly little music blog with lead vocalist, songwriter & guitarist Natacha Simões over email about a couple of questions I had to ask.
Interestingly, whilst I viewed the tracks that I’d already heard as melancholic and sombre, Natacha had a different perspective on it.
“The main theme of the EP is inner demons, it wasn't intentional but just kinda came together as that. At the time I got really into drawing devilish stuff and that just made its way into the lyrics and songs. A lot of them were written as well at the end of the last lockdown, so they come from a place of introspection, I think. But in the songs it's all viewed from a fun and naive side if that makes sense, like the songs aren't super sad.”
There’s certainly turning points within each song - you can feel nostalgia, even happy memories sticking out from the bed of dreamy chords. Much like these moments, Maripool’s vocals, as aforementioned, display an impeccable range and a unique singing style.
“I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before! I take mostly inspiration from the midwest emo culture, in those songs you get quite unusual vocal melodies and quick pitch rises which I always really liked. Cap'n Jazz and Jazz June, for example, did a lot of that in their songs, they also had a lot of screaming but I don't go as far as that.”
Whilst there is a real distinct style within the band’s studio work, I’m yet to catch a live show. I asked Natacha to fill me in on what I should expect.
“I feel like the songs definitely have more energy to them when played live, which is great! Also me and my bandmates are always having a laugh on stage so I think the best way to describe it is - A bunch of friends having fun while playing sad songs. You'll definitely be entertained, that's for sure!”
So when’s the next one?
“We are playing an EP release show at Paper Dress Vintage on the 14th of October and after that a Halloween show on the 29th of October, where we'll be dressing up as Weezer and playing a few of their hits, so that will be interesting.”
And whilst we’re getting our gig shoes on, is there any other releases on the horizon?
“Not at the moment, I feel like bands are always preparing for a next release as soon as they release one but dunno - I feel like it just takes the fun out of it. I just want to enjoy it, keep writing songs and if something comes of it that's cool but if not that's also okay!”
A humble response, I feel like an artist needs to refresh themselves between releases to regain that “fuck the man”, “indie 4eva”, “record everything in my friend’s downstairs loo” kinda vibe, and that’s a big part of why I’m keen on Maripool’s stuff, they’re oozing with that energy.
Talking of REFRESHMENTS and ENERGY, we’re bringing back the bonus round of SPIT interviews, the “golden buzzer” moment per se.
THE CHEESEBOARD QUESTION
We asked Natacha to pick 3 favourite cheeses to go on the dream cheeseboard.
“Definitely Goat's cheese first, then Serra da Estrela cheese because I'm Portuguese and lastly Halloumi because I am literally obsessed.”
Great cheeses. We’ll be back soon with another interview. Go listen to Maripool at the links below and catch her next few gigs too, we’ll leave links on our homepage!
Photo by Chiara Gambuto, find her here.
Listen to Maripool's new EP here.
Find Maripool on socials here.
Find us here.