Wednesday 20 September 2017

New Music: Maggie Rogers - Split Stones


It’s amazing how far one moment and one song can take you. Since Maggie Rogers was thrust into the limelight with that Pharrell discovery video and her song Alaska, it has been pretty non-stop. At the end of 2016 she was on many a tip list (including my own Ones to Watch list) and has followed it through with an excellent EP, sold out headline shows and plenty of festival slots. 

Although I’ll never tire of listening to the EP, there does come a point where there has to be something else new and it comes today in the form of live favourite Split Stones. The two things I particularly love about this song are the unusual looped beats mixed with the sound of heavy breath (the sort of patterns and ideas someone like Bjork would adopt) and the way the song rises to form exultant crescendos, leaving you feeling high, as Maggie sings of grabbing life and moving ‘like you had something to lose’.

Together with Split Stones Maggie has put a letter on line (here) that talks of the track representing a parting gift, which at first seems odd given her limited recorded output so far, but the letter goes further: “This is me saying goodbye for a little while. Here’s to the end of the beginning and the start of everything else.” I translate this as “I am going to go and complete a full album now.” Let’s hope so.

Maggie Rogers - Split Stones

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