From the very start of their careers, Maribou State have strived to mix classic electronica with a genre-bending flair. Melding elements of soul, jazz, and whatever sound speaks to them, the duo’s shake up of dance music has seen them be revered, inspirations, and perhaps most importantly, true trailblazers.
So, after a break from touring, and overcoming personal challenges, Chris Davis and Liam Ivory returned to the studio to create their album ‘Hallucinating Love’ with one intent in mind; to create a body of work that had both a sonic and personal impact. What has emerged is an album that feels like a coming home for the duo, with a sense of hope threaded innovative collaboration and a developed, euphoric sound.
CLASH caught up with the duo on the week of release, to discuss the album process, and the various lessons learnt from it…
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How are you guys? What’s your year been like?
L: Good! Just very busy. things are starting to get exciting, we’ve been doing loads of press and in stores shows which have been so fun – the show in Liverpool, which was especially amazing.
C: We both were away over Christmas, just getting a bit of downtime before the outlook sort of kicks into gear, but yeah, it’s been good. We’re going on tour soon, and it’s the first time in 4 or 5 years.
How do you feel about touring after such a long time?
C: It’s really exciting.
L: Doing these small shows has meant we’ve got the nerves out of the way.
The band got back together, we’ve put the set together. It’s almost like we did all the hard work last year. Now we’re out on the road with a few days of rehearsals this week, but we’re feeling confident. We know the show works now.
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Yeah, how was the process of making the album like, how did it originally start?
C: We both were suffering from various health issues at the time the concept started, back in 2020. It was a physical strain that really added to the challenging part of the album process.
The silver lining of that though, to add was that it gave us in a way something to actually write about. It started taking shape slowly, and there were lots of different concepts and themes running through it, but one of which was this idea of resilience and pushing through tough times. It’s what the album became about in the end. I guess in a way we should be grateful for those experiences and the fact we did grow them. We’ve both ended up in a more positive place now- that was the record’s doing so in a way. That record was the antidote that we needed.
L: There’s a sense of hope that comes when you hear it, despite the dark times that Chris and I were facing during the writing process. What came out ended up being very hopeful and it was lifting and I think. Thankfully it went that way and didn’t just become like an introspective moody, sad album. There would have been the possibility of it being a bit more sombre, but I feel like we just really found our groove with processing those emotions and turning them into more hopeful music.
There’s a lot of collaboration on this album, from some artists you’ve worked with previously, and some new faces. Talk us through working with so many different people.
L: We actually challenged ourselves at the start of this record to collaborate more.
We’d noticed previously that we could be quite internalised with our collaborations andover the years we sensed that while we’ve got a really strong community within our friends and family, we didn’t have much of a community musically. Then we moved to a new studio in London that had a big focus on community, and it really helped open our minds up to working with other people.
L: We learned we needed to have repeating characters of collaboration because we’ve already developed a connection with them- it’s where we’re most comfortable and can really start expressing ourselves with the music. It taught us a bit of a lesson that we do need to have that real firm relationship with someone to get in a room and make music together.
C: But on the other hand, there were sessions like with Andreya Triana, who’s someone we’ve loved forever- she came in and did some vocals, and that was really amazing. We kind of had a range of experiences.
Now that these tracks are out in the world, how has the reaction been?
C: It’s been really, it’s been really good. We’ve seen some amazing reactions online and in the crowds of the shows we’ve done. The Assembly Hall in Brighton was a particular highlight- such a good reaction from the crowd there.
Have you ever had the way you interact with your songs change when playing it live?
C: Yeah absolutely! It’s weird- creating an album like the album is so consuming, historically we’ve taken years to write each record. You become so involved in it, but then once you get out on the road the songs take on the life of their own. It obviously always sounds different live no matter what track you play, but we try and make that really intentional- each track sounds close to the record, but amped up to make them work in a live environment.
L: The music sounds bigger, both because of the size of a venue and from the reaction you get from the crowd. Plus the fact that we’re playing it with our friends on stage. In the end each track takes on two different entities.
Speaking of touring, are there any shows you’re looking forward to playing this year?
L: We’re playing Alexandra Palace, in three weeks or so, that’ll be amazing. It’s the biggest thing we’ve done so it’ll be a highlight of the year.
That, and festivals – we’ve got a few booked in already which will be great. There’s going to be quite a few milestones reached this year. It’s such a unique, cool feeling.
Finally, what are some goals you have this year?
C: We were just talking about going on a diet! Yeah, I think I’d like to get to a healthy baseline, both mentally and physically after last year which was so full on. It was only a year ago since I had surgery, so a lot of my recovery was sort of slowed down a little bit by having to get back to the album cycle. So, I’d really like to work on my health.
L: I am moving to Portugal this year, so my main goal is to learn to speak Portuguese!
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‘Hallucinating Love’ is out now.
Words: Lily Blakeney-Edwards
Photo Credit: Rory Dewar
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