Live Report: Maruja burn like frostbite at SXSW 2025

The cold barren landscape of Antarctica. 70mph wind screaming. Exhausted plodding through the jagged snow. Your next footstep is your final one as you breathlessly plummet down a hidden crevasse.

Falling helplessly, Maruja are ice shelf 20 feet below the surface that break your fall. Their set blends the yearning hope of the blue sky above, and the dread of the never ending darkness beneath.

Frontman and guitarist Harry Wilkinson, brings the ferocity of frostbite. His energy and retching lyrics burn deep. “Vengeance is a thief pointed red horns/ Crooked black teeth, the rage of a storm.”

As you lay in the chasm, silence is permeated by saxophone player Joe Carroll. Breaking the hush like eerie cracks that echo with the shifting ice. Joe brings menace and beauty to a life clinging on for hope.

The unrelenting terrain consists of bassist, Matt Buonaccorsi, and drummer, Jacob Hayes. What appears to be still, is beneath, a raging catastrophic consequence of the crashing continent sized glaziers smashing together. Unforgiving and brutal, the duo are a seismic impact of Maruja’s musical depth and scope.

Their latest EP, Tir na nÓg, highlights the band’s strong instrumental capabilities. An improvised set broken into four movements.

Tir na nÓg is available on Bandcamp.

@thedecibeldecoder♬ no music - Jeroan Drive