Sleeping Storm by The April Maze (Album)

on 8 May 2015 at 12:53 am

Todd Mayhew and Sivan Agam, alt-folk husband and wife duo The April Maze

With ‘Sleeping Storm’, alt-folk husband and wife duo The April Maze show that their own songwriting is beguiling and affecting

leeping Storm is the new album from alt-folk husband and wife duo The April Maze. Having formed in Melbourne seven years ago, Todd Mayhew and Sivan Agam gained much acclaim with their 2012 covers album Two. They now return with a collection of original material which proves their own songwriting is just as compelling.

Packed with both heartfelt confessionals and archaic storytelling, it is a record that provides a glimpse into a secret world. As with fellow married masters of the macabre, The Handsome Family, the esoteric backstory creates something unique and addictively peculiar. Throughout the album, and particularly on Fire and So Many Songs, Agam’s cello brings a feeling of eerie suspense.

Scout Hall charts the couple’s first tentative steps together, their voices melting into one as they concede, “I did love you from the very first view / of course I acted shy like I never knew”. The Bishop Who Ate His Boots is a bellowing shanty fraught with danger and a booming vocal from Mayhew and tells the true story of his great-grandfather’s adventures. Agam’s voice is equally powerful, when she opens up on the album’s title track it is positively Florence Welch-like.

The music spilling out from The April Maze is enchanting. As the gentle passion of Sparks brings the album to its close you are left with a slightly haunted feeling. Sleeping Storm will remain with you for a long time.

Verdict: A secret glimpse into a magical world