Fenix: ‘Paper Wings’ [Review]
As the product of a collaboration between YouTube art-makeup maven Klaire de Lys, a pair of immensely talented local musicians (in the form of Natassja Saliba and Silvija Vil), and YouTube guitar guru Rob Chapman, it’s safe to say that this social media-loving symphonic rock group’s debut release has some considerable expectations to live up to…and I’m happy to report that those expectations have already been met in style, straight out of the starting gate. Read more…
I originally started this review by writing some stuff about MC Rut’s history – but then I realised you can read all that stuff on Wikipedia anyway. So instead, I played Pick Up Your Head, and this happened: 
From the moment Always Lead, Never Follow begins, it’s immediately clear that Scholars have done their rock school homework. Tight, professional, and gritty, this is nothing less than a Red Bull-fuelled rollercoaster ride through a world of passionate and poppy post-rock. Scholars are a great band, frequently bringing to mind At The Drive-In, Reuben, and perhaps even a scandal-free Lostprophets during searing moments of original musicality. 
The title of this EP sums it up perfectly. To save you a Google search, the term ‘Maya’ refers to the supernatural ability to create illusions, such as the various sensory inputs we all encounter naturally over the course of our lives, as well as those idiosyncratic, subjective experiences that lead us to conclude that we each exist as separate, individual selves. These illusions then become the cause of much suffering, dis-ease, and confusion – and any efforts to escape their all-pervading influence can in turn lead a struggling consciousness into even more confusion, to the point of becoming lost in a philosophical and existential labyrinth.