Maruja and Nikita Curtis Live at Hole44 Berlin

Manchester’s Maruja release their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Pain to Power’, recorded at Low Four Studio and produced by Samuel W Jones, who the band worked with on the three EPs that preceded their debut full length. ‘Pain to Power’ is an extraordinary body of work that not only confirms Maruja as a creative force of nature but finds a band deeply concerned with the power of community, solidarity and love as forces for social and political change. The album echoes this across its flawless eight tracks, taking the listener from the frustration and anger of openers ‘Bloodsport’ and the BBC 6Music A-listed ‘Look Down On Us’ through to the sublime spirituality of ‘Zaytoun’ and the staggering album closer ‘Reconcile’ - a nine minute opus that builds around Joe Carroll’s transcendent sax, into lyricist, rapper and singer Harry Wilkinson’s impassioned pleas to “pray for love” and “have no fear”. This cycle of tragedy and hope is at the very heart of ‘Pain to Power’. “It starts off brutal and turns into something powerful and expressive,” says Harry. “We have to trust in that circle of life, and in our power to overcome pain.” The album follows the arc of one of Maruja’s live shows: an onslaught of energy, arriving at a place of transcendence, the music itself rising from the ashes.