New York, NY (Top40 Charts) "Enshrouds the listener in a spare and noir atmosphere of reverberating percussion, sharp electronics, a subterranean, pulsing beat, and foreboding, chillingly delivered spoken word vocals... ample, jaggedly grinding guitar overdrive and full-gage drum strikes - here we find passion in the release provided here" - Big Takeover Magazine
"Packed with drive, piano-filled electric rock rhythm. Dramatically fervent, it seems to represent a huge emotional release and is as catchy yet haunting as Bauhaus 'Exquisite Corpse' on 'The Sky's Gone Out' back in the day. Dark, high energy and wonderfully bewildering" - The Record Stache
"The soundtrack of a psychedelic trip, perhaps, with the soundscape and singer's performance lurking on "murder ballad" style... totally unexpected and astonishing... industrial, arty-punk and dark, gritty electronic rock" - The Noise Journal
British post-punk two-piece Mary And The Ram have unveiled the new video for 'The Cross', shot and directed in York by the duo's frontman Kiran Tanna. It was produced by VIAPERFORMANCE with visuals designed by Harold and Arthur's Horror Show. Tanna himself starts in the video, along with fashion model Gemma-Louise Keane.
"It's a surreal and neon fever-dream; a vivid, drunken reflection of its creators. We wanted to create something extremely intimate. I decided to work one on one, with fashion model Gemma-Louise Keane. There was no crew and no cast involved in the final shoot... Only participants... Two bodies. Very little costume. Mostly skin. Surreal. Neon. Closeups. Full of occult sexuality. NSFW," says Kiran Tanna.
"This document a process that we would participate in, ourselves: a coming together and a falling apart into something new. In this void, it remains an examination of the individual as a sexual, fragile, subject. Or something like that. I won't talk much about the cube. Or the bodies. Or mist. At it's heart it's a lament... A eulogy. A cry. And, I think, an omen."
'The Cross' is one of two tracks, along with b-side 'The Dream', presented as the duo's debut single via Anonymous Records. Produced by the legendary John Fryer, who is credited for work with a massive number of seminal artists, including Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, HIM, Love and Rockets, and Cocteau Twins, this new single delivers passionate, cathartic, concept driven electronic rock.
Based in York, Mary And The Ram is Kiran Tanna (The THING) on vocals, guitars, keys and programming) and drummer Dom Smith (Seep Away, The THING). Kiran's background is mainly in dance, poetry and performance art, having founded the internationally-touring dance company VIAPerformance. Dom is involved in numerous musical projects and is also a potent force in the music community as editor of Soundsphere Magazine.
With influences that include Nine Inch Nails, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Sisters of Mercy, The Dresden Dolls,
Death From Above 1979 and Placebo, their love for these bands show through.
"We've known each other for years," says Kiran Tanna. "It took a few years for our schedules to align but eventually I started programming and playing synths with one of Dom's existing bands - a far doomier act called The THING! It wasn't long until we realised that our shared love of old-school industrial, arty-punk and dark, gritty electronic rock needed another outlet."
"There's nothing new under the sun - but that's part of the challenge. And ultimately it doesn't matter. With Mary And The Ram we're trying to find uncommon territory and to work there - to do something innovative if we can, and to make something that you can come back to over and over again - we hope - and each time find something new. We want you to feel. And we want to feel with you. In a room. Your room or ours. On stage. In the pit. Wherever. The increasing digitisation of our lives binds us more and more closely together... But in so many ways we are growing farther apart. This stuff comes from a place that is drifting and uncertain and perhaps a little doomed."
'The Cross' is available via Bandcamp. Mary and The Ram also plans to release their debut EP later in 2018.
Vocals, guitars, programming by Kiran Tanna
Drums by Dom Smith
Produced by John Fryer
Art direction / design / cover artwork by Scot Greenwell of darC Artz
