Maruja announce debut album and hometown headline show at Manchester O2 Ritz

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Credit: Samuel Edwards

Maruja Announce Debut Album

‘Pain to Power’ Out 12th September on Music For Nations

New Single ‘Look Down On Us’ Out Now

Announce World Tour

Play London’s Electric Ballroom On 13th November

Manchester’s Maruja announce their highly anticipated debut album ‘Pain to Power’, due for release by Music For Nations on 12th September and produced by Samuel W Jones, who the band worked with on their three EPs to date. The extraordinary eight track collection not only confirms the four piece as a creative force of nature but finds a deeply emotional and empathetic band concerned primarily with the power of community, both in the nuclear sense, as a tight knit creative unit, but also as a wider force for social and political change in the age of the individual.

The first taste of the album is new single ‘Look Down On Us’, a furious cry against the impact of late-stage capitalism and the wealth of the one percent on global society.

This is protest music at its most potent. Thought-provoking, unifying and intensely cathartic, it places the band in the great canon of artists using their art to propel change. Speaking about the single, frontman Harry Wilkinson says

“Look Down On Us is a reflection of the times we live in. The first half of the song paints a grotesque and vivid picture of the super wealthy, and the impact they have on our culture. The second half is about the need to come together in solidarity and embrace love as a wider community, especially in times of oppression. The song ends full circle, arching back to where it began as a reminder to the listener of the struggle from which it came, and the struggle that still remains.”

The single arrives with a powerful ten minute video, which starts with the band performing against a backdrop of vivid, expressive brushstrokes, taken from ‘Pain to Power’s’ artwork by Mikey Thomas before segueing into a section of contemporary dance as the single reaches its midsection of calmer, transcendent jazz.

Maruja believe passionately in the ability of art to empower, heal and unite and has created a body of work with ‘Pain to Power’ that they hope will offer strength and knowledge to the listener.

In support of the album, they take their unmissable live show on the road across the UK, Europe, China, Japan and the US later this year.

Artist presale begins at 9am local time on Wednesday 14th May and ends on the same day at 11:59pm.

General on-sale is Friday 16th May at 9am local time. All tickets will be available HERE.

Maruja are Harry Wilkinson (vocals/guitar), Joseph Carroll (sax), Matt Buonaccorsi (bass) and Jacob Hayes (drums)

The tracklist for ‘Pain to Power’ is

Bloodsport

Look Down On Us

Saoirse

Born to Die

Break the Tension

Trenches

Zaytoun

Reconcile

MARUJA PLAY

MAY

16th The Great Escape, BRIGHTON

23rd Conpass, OSAKA

24th Club Que, TOKYO

27th YUE Space, BEIJING

28th VAS Livehouse, SHANGHAI

29th 9 Club, HANGZHOU

31st VOX Livehouse, WUHAN

JUNE

1st B10 Live, GUANGZHAN

2nd OMNI Space, BEIJING

8th Lycabettus Hill Theatre, ATHENS (supporting TV on the Radio)

11th Rock For People Festival, CZECH REPUBLIC

12th Ecosystemic Festival, LATVIA

14th Outbreak Festival, MANCHESTER

JULY

11th Pohoda Festival, SLOVAKIA

20th TvSpenta festival, ITALY

26th Deer Shed Festival, YORKSHIRE

AUGUST

7th Ypsigrock Festival, ITALY

8th Haldern Pop Festival, GERMANY

9th Winterthurer Musikfestwochen, SWITZERLAND

14th Paredes de Coura festival, PORTUGAL

16th Lowlands Festival, NETHERLANDS

17th Pukkelpop Festival, BELGIUM

21st Canela Party, SPAIN

23rd Shambala Festival, UK

SEPTEMBER

22nd Foundry, PHILADELPHIA

23rd Sinclair, BOSTON

25th Elsewhere, BROOKLYN

27th Concert Hall, TORONTO

28th Thalia Hall, CHICAGO

OCTOBER

1st El Rey, LOS ANGELES

2nd Constellation Room, SANTA ANA

3rd Independent, SAN FRANCISCO

4th Harlows Startlet Room, SACRAMENTO

25th Electric Bristol, BRISTOL

29th The Garage, GLASGOW

31st Whelan’s, DUBLIN

NOVEMBER

1st The Limelight 2, BELFAST

5th The Castle & Falcon, BIRMINGHAM

7th The Wardrobe, LEEDS

8th Rescue Rooms, NOTTINGHAM

12th CHALK, BRIGHTON

13th Electric Ballroom, LONDON

14th O2 Ritz, MANCHESTER

19th Botanique Orangerie, BRUSSELS

20th LUXOR, COLOGNE

21st Paradiso Tolhuistuin, AMSTERDAM

22nd Bahnhof Pauli, HAMBURG

26th Hole44, BERLIN

28th Bogen F, ZURICH

29th Santeria Toscana 31, MILAN

DECEMBER

3rd M.OU.CO., Porto

4th LAV, Lisbon

5th Copernico, MADRID

6th Sala Apolo, BARCELONA

10th Pannonica, NANTES

11th Le Tetris, LE HAVRE

12th Trabendo, PARIS