The Beat Maras – The Huaraz EP

• 28th Mar 2008

The press release accompanying The Huaraz EP does a rather amazing job of talking up a band I had never heard of, and not just talking them up, in some cases it sets out to create its own modern myths to colour The Beat Maras tale so far, I shall spare you any of the rose tinted NME fodder in favour of a look at their music.

Opening track, Getaway Car, feels like the title is rather apt. Strap yourself in as this is a bumpy ride, racing along full throttle with a sense of enormous urgency and adrenalin. Dirty, filthy garage band sonics flesh out the track and its easy to imagine this song being thrashed out onstage, culminating in a few broken instruments along the way.

In stark contrast to raging machismo of Getaway Car are tracks two and three from the four track EP. The Huaraz Song could be from an entirely different band altogether, arriving with the patter of raindrops, a stand-alone acoustic guitar and the jangle of a tambourine. The gentle and alluring track perhaps loses points for its rather weak and whimsical lyrics, the juxtaposition of the first two tracks opening up a gaping hole in the bands purpose.

Brooding strings herald a bolder sound and an introspective slant on Groping Like The Cave Men. Building on the gentle acoustic strumming of The Huarez Song, the sound is thickened and sounds richer with the addition of strings in a song that swells and falls as the actual evolution and morality of man is called into question. Definitely the highlight of the EP.

Perhaps the track that encompasses The Beat Maras sound the most is final song, The Beauty And The Horror, starting softly with obvious similarities to the previous two tracks, before lurching into a heavier chorus that calls to mind the EP’s opener without being quite as relentless. The strength of the lyrics also shines through with pangs of introspection and mystical philosophy.

The Beat Maras obviously know how to work in a spectrum of styles but a consistency and cohesion is needed to stop their sound becoming increasingly wayward.