Tír na nÓg Maruja

Since delivering a duo of ambitious and sonically expansive Eps, and following a burgeoning reputation on the touring circuit, playing to ever growing hoards across the UK, Europe and now the USA, Maruja are well on their way to establishing a reputation as the UK’s most charismatic, promising new act. Think post-punk meets free jazz, with lyrics, rooted in rap, that are all about the message. Add the hair-raising sonics of ruthless breakbeats, gnarly guitar loops, transcendent sax and flourishes of psychedelic bass and you have a decent foundation in understanding the band.

Maruja formed ten years ago in Manchester, no strangers to the struggles of being a jobbing band in a music scene where the fee for a support slot hasn't been raised in 30 years. But their reach is international – beloved of BBC 6 Music, Anthony Fantano, NME and Clash, they’ve played 24 countries this year and in December wrapped up the final leg of a 40 date European tour. Looking ahead to a blistering 2025, the first cornerstone comes as the band complete a foundational triptych of EPs by delivering their most experimental offering to date. ‘Tir na nÓg’ frontman Harry Wilkinson says is “Maruja in its rawest essence, its purest form”. The basis of all Maruja’s music is improvised, with their recordings capturing those moments in live performance when, as drummer Jacob Hayes puts it, “things move to another level – the flow state”, which Rick Rubin swears by, and those who have seen them live will understand. Maruja talk about spirituality with an understanding that recalls the jazz greats of the past, the heightened states of being reached by John Coltrane, largely forgotten in discussion of modern music.

To underline their unique approach to composition the final pre-debut album offering ‘Tir na nÓg’ is an entirely improvised continuous suite of music, broken down into four movements. Saxophonist Joe Carroll expands “When we improvise together, we often enter a flow state where the concept of time is warped, an hour may feel like 10 minutes for example. There is a certain thoughtlessness which becomes hypnotic, it’s in these states of mind where the majority of our music is spawned from, we take these improvisations and turn them into songs. It is important for us to show where our music stems from and this piece ‘Tír na nÓg’ is a perfect example of where we go when improvising together.”

The title ‘Tir na nÓg’ comes from Irish mythology and is another tribute to Joe’s late father who was from the West Coast (the band use Joe’s great grandfather and grandfather’s photography for EP artworks). The title means “the land of no age” and is the name of “The Celtic Otherworld”: an enchanted place from which all mysticism arises. For the band, this idea had a direct relevance to the way they create their music, capturing that sense of going through a portal to a higher plane, a world of creativity. In the middle of that mythical place, in Irish lore, is a well, which inspired the title of their last EP: artists would drink from it to give them inspiration.

Joe continues “the ancient stories about Tír na nÓg teach us wisdom and lessons still valuable today about love, health, connection and respect. The notion that the tangible world is not the be all and end all is also something we explore sonically when we improvise together, it’s here where we allow ourselves to become vessels to new ideas that present themselves without thought. The name is also a carry on conceptually from our previous EPs ‘Knocknarea’ and ‘Connla’s Well’ where artists would drink from the waters of Connla’s Well to gain the knowledge and wisdom of Tír na nÓg.”