On the radar: Maple Leaves

Published on 16/09/2009 13:10

Play: Easy Speak »

It's unusual for a six month old band to make waves in the music industry's oceanic depths, but T in the Park (TITP) darlings Maple Leaves are perilously close to stirring up a storm.

Despite their numerically-bereft framework, the Glasgow trio of Anna Miles, Julian Corrie and Graeme Thomson sure drum up a helluva racket, albeit a melodious one:

"Being just a three-piece, we make a lot musically out of little, swapping instruments where necessary," explains Miles. "We've been commended for writing songs that are unashamedly melodic and accessible. They don't lack complexity but, where some bands maybe over-complicate things, we find there's nothing like a good harmony and a summery melody to fill a room with good feeling."

This simple approach is what makes their music so easy to embrace, with Miles counting their influences as, "fantastic storytellers like The Magnetic Fields, The Mountain Goats, The Shins, The Dodos, The National, Belle and Sebastian, along with the people in our lives who we know and love. Oh, and sushi. Definitely sushi."

Sourced from the Under the Radar blog

Despite the pressures that come with shooting for the stratosphere, the band remain reassuringly untarnished, coming across a genuinely nice and passionate musicians. In fact, they're very much like their music - down to earth. Or, as Miles puts it, "(we're] just enjoying making and performing music together, attracting as big an audience as we can".

With a performance on the T Break stage at this year's TITP coming so early in their careers and a new EP about to appear, we'll no doubt be hearing a lot more from Maple Leaves in the coming months.

And their thoughts on the current Scottish music scene? "It's an embarrassment of riches really," chirps Miles. "So much great stuff has come out of Scotland in the last few years. Glasgow's scene, in particular, is an inspiration – it's easy to discover a new talent every other weekend! We've enjoyed playing gigs with a lot of great new local bands, like My Latest Novel, Zoey Van Goey and French Wives. It's a joy to be part of it."

As for the moniker, it seems there's no overt Canadian patronage. Nope, it's all down to a certain Swedish songsmith: "It's the name of a song by indie troubadour Jens Lekman who we are all fans of," Miles explains. "We're not actually Canadian - although do enjoy the odd pancake with maple syrup every now and then."

Like what you hear? Watch Maple Leaves live at the Captain's Rest, Glasgow on 23 Sep, and the Oxjam Music Festival, Merchant City, Glasgow on 24 Sep.