THE PICNIC: Marmalade Music Review
Rat World is excited to be collaborating with Marmalade to put on The Picnic - a mini music festival on November 16th that aims to showcase upcoming bands, platform music journalism, and put on a fun night to celebrate our local music landscape and arts scene!
Five music journalists are paired up with one of the five bands performing at The Picnic. These Rat Journalists will introduce the bands via a music review and then will conduct a KEXP-style live interview on the night of the festival!
Marmalade’s Sober EP sunnily explores the bittersweet lows of growing up
For the average joe, there isn’t much to it when it comes to marmalade - it’s just citrus juice and peels boiled in water and sugar, after all.
But of course, tabletop spreads come in all sorts of sizes and constitutions. Just take Tāmaki Makaurau’s own Marmalade, whose debut EP Sober finds the world to not be so sickly sweet, but through this realisation approaches life with a profound sense of clarity.
The duo, composed Jemilah Ross-Hayes and Koen Aldershof since 2021, have thus far seen a career that’s allowed them to support several notable live acts, including American band Beach Bunny, Australia’s Hot Potato Band and Kiwi acts French for Rabbits and Ha The Unclear.
Now, they’ve pulled together their first official release from their lounge, its five tracks capturing episodes of teenage confusion, blissful ignorance and longings for something greater - all told through the eyes of now-20-something-year-olds, and through the aural lens of energetic indie-rock and clean-pop.
It bears noting, Marmalade don’t necessarily traverse sobriety in its most literal form, as a state of being free of inebriants.
Rather, Sober dives into various types of lucidity, from the kick-in-the-ass following that first sip of espresso, to that kick-in-the-face realisation that last night’s pillow talk would’ve been better off as a monologue.
And with each track mixed under different watchful eyes, every chapter of Marmalade’s quintet has its own flavour of solemn truth sonically paired with often ironic instrumentation.
The EP opens with the appropriately-titled ‘Bright’, its glistening acoustic strings and sunny disposition masking dreams of success that feel solar systems away. Listeners are guided through Ross-Hayes’ impossible ideations and deeper insecurities she keeps tucked away, as she ponders the need to “fake it until I’m bright”.
In ‘Awkward’, a frustrated and chunky guitar welcomes in Aldershof’s Chris Martin-esque vocals as the duo fend off society’s judgemental gaze after an uncomfortable one-night stand. As our insecure protagonist struggles to pin down her feelings in the verses (and a cheerily unaware mum borders on gaslighting her), choruses of chanting voices kick in, paradoxically longing for a moment of isolation.
At the mid-section, ‘Houston’ exhibits a cry for help, as the character succumbs to an isolation and darkness akin to being lost in space. A bluesy, hopeful band purrs below as Ross-Hayes pines “somebody help me out … I’m signing over and out”, as if trapped in orbit, hoping someone back down on Earth can help ground them.
The life of a caffeine-fueled barista is faithfully portrayed in the penultimate ‘Caffeine High’ where the protagonist ponders where life could take them next as their feet remain firmly planted behind a sea of coffee grounds and dried-up milk. Funky, inquisitive instruments jam out as our hero experiences the wider world vicariously through the day-to-today happenings of disgruntled patrons, who often take more than the $4.50 they give.
Marmalade close out their debut with ‘Cigarette Habit’, an exploration of sobriety’s absence as two friends support each other in staying clean. However, the duo evoke Jefferson Airplane as they “follow the white rabbit” and find themselves in Wonderland, baited by gleaming and comforting cymbals and strings. Ultimately, they acquiesce and become a binary star, peacefully spiraling out and moving deeper into the void.
Sober marks a watershed for Ross-Hayes and Aldershof as they reflect on a decade of their lives littered with naivety and embarrassment, but also character definition. It’s clear they hold no bitterness towards their youth and see their chaotic younger selves as a jumping-off point into an adulthood of higher awareness. Having “fucked around” for a while, they’ve been able to translate their “finding out” stage into a lifestyle and artistry that’s mature, soulful and conscious.
As their EP proudly professes, Marmalade is now sober. Having accrued greater clarity through harsh lessons, sturdy habits and coffee-stained hardship, their minds are now clearer, free to spread and explore a lane (or perhaps a hand-blown mason jar) of their own making.
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Catch Marmalade live at The Tuning Fork, 16th November Saturday for The Picnic Mini Music Festival! And don’t forget to use the code "marmlade" to reveal a secret $10 ticket…