Maruja

Led by guitarist and vocalist Harry Wilkinson, English post-rock band Maruja began life in Manchester, in 2014, with Matt Buonaccorsi (bass). Childhood friends, they laid the foundations of the band at Manchester College with guitarist Liam Laurence and a drummer. Named Maruja, after a store sign noticed by Wilkinson, the quartet recorded a homonymous debut EP in 2016, followed by Explicit Trickery in 2017 and Compassion in 2019. Without Liam Laurence, but with Joe Carroll on alto sax in the meantime, Maruja continue to self-produce "Tao " and "Rage" in 2020, with new drummer Jacob Hayes. After the Covid-19 pandemic, further singles follow in 2022, followed by the Knocknarea (2023) and Connla's Well (2024) EPs. The now-stabilized band selected several recordings from past sessions for The Vault album (2024), bringing together their multiple facets of post-rock, post-punk, jazz-rock and noise rock. At the end of 2024, "Break the Tension" was the first single to be released on the Music for Nations label, followed by the hit "Aon" and the Tir Na Nog EP in 2025.