We start with a brass lament:
“Now I live like wolf in the hills ...”
It’s a mournful trumpet call you might hear from a mariachi with something inoperable; like a tumour or a broken heart:
“Cause I was weak when they came for my land ...”
There’s a Morricone guitar that should crescendo until a six-shooter smokes and the dust clumps with Type O:
“Two years since I dug those graves ...”
And then there’s her voice, gently crooning about leaving bloody footprints in the moonlight as she stalks her prey:
“Now there’s flesh blood on my hands ...”
“Footprints,” was written for – but rejected by – the 2013 Johnny Depp movie The Lone Ranger. It’s the first track from Escondido’s sophomore album, Walking with a Stranger, a 10-track release chock full of love, loss, vengeance and midnight regrets.
Escondido’s sultry, prairie-wolf howl of a voice is supplied by Jessica Maros, a former Capilano University student and somewhat unlikely rock star.
Asked what she listened to as a child growing up in Port Moody, Maros grasps for something impressive.
“I wish I could say something really cool,” she begins. “My parents immigrated (to Canada) from Slovakia, and so their taste in music was not very good.”
Maros grew up with the ever-present threat of oompah as gatherings at her parent’s house were often marred by extended bouts of polka.
“I didn’t really get exposed to awesome music until high school,” she says.
Speaking to the North Shore News from Los Angeles, Maros’ smile is visible from 2,000 kilometres as she reminisces about her sonic baptism.
There was the wailing wah-wah of Jimi Hendrix’s Stratocaster, Neil Young’s account of the needle and the damage done, Electric Light Orchestra’s intricate arrangements, and Bob Dylan’s account of the perpetual discombobulation of Mr. Jones.
“Blew my mind. I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve been missing out on this my whole life,’” she says.
But while the music belonged with her, Maros wasn’t quite sure where she belonged.
She started making weekly sojourns to sing at Rossini’s, a since-departed Gastown jazz bar that catered to Vancouver’s waning hep cat population.
Her cool vocals eventually landed her with Nettwerk Records and she eventually landed in Nashville, Tenn.
Maros quickly became a member of that Music City minority that have been banging on the city walls since “Chatanooga Shoe Shine Boy” was recorded there in 1949.
Nashville may be where tumbleweed turned to gold for Dolly Parton and Hank Williams, but it’s also the city where pompadour and circumstance singer Esquerita waxed some of the most bloodcurdling screams heard outside a horror movie and where honky tonk and punk left a tavern together in 1981 and birthed Jason and the Scorchers.
Maros fit well into the “indie, underground scene of the non-country musicians. We all kind of stuck together and started our own little community,” she explains.
It was within that community that Maros met Tyler James, a Mount Vernon, Wash. musician who was drawn by her sound.
James listened to Maros sing “Rodeo Queen” and instantly went to work on an arrangement.
It was a rush for Maros, who’d written piles of songs but never released one.
“He got it, he got my voice,” Maros recalls.
They worked on a few more songs and then James popped the question.
“One day he sat me down and asked if I wanted to be in a band and – no one’s ever asked me so I said, ‘sure.’”
The pair have contrasting but complementary styles, Maros explains.
“I’m a lot quicker,” she explains. “I like to dive into things alone and I write every single day.”
Tyler sits with songs, mulling them in his bedroom studio and searching for the right trumpet or keyboard sound.
“He likes to compare other songs and go into the sounds of other records,” she says. “I like to not listen to other people’s music as much because I don’t want to be too influenced.”
While she writes quickly, Maros says she doesn’t know if she’s caught anything worth catching until the sun’s gone down.
Asked how she knows she’s written something special, she replies: “If I sing it the next day.”
Escondido is scheduled to play Bumbershoot in Seattle on Saturday, Sept. 3. Their set begins on the Starbucks Stage at 5:20 p.m. For a full schedule go to bumbershoot.com/lineup. For more on Escondido and their new album, Walking with a Stranger, visit thebandescondido.com.
Off the Cuff playlist:
Escondido - “Heart Is Black”
http://bit.ly/2bKjvcU
Escondido on Audiotree Live (full sSession):
http://bit.ly/2caAB3i
Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers - “Wild Horses”:
http://bit.ly/2bZUrB7
Bob Moses full performance (KEXP live):
http://bit.ly/2bIcif6
Viper Central - “Thump & Howl” at the Anchor Guitar Studio:
http://bit.ly/2bIzH1l
Drive-By Truckers - “What It Means” from American Band out Sept 30:
http://bit.ly/2baLeFn
Lydia Loveless “Clumps” from new album Real:
http://bit.ly/2c0o16S
Margo Price: SXSW 2016 | NPR Music Front Row:
http://bit.ly/2aAswnC
Allah Las - “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)”:
http://bit.ly/1XejPCS
Brian Wilson - “Surf’s Up”:
http://bit.ly/1RVVwZ2
Frank Ocean - “Pyramids” on SNL 2012:
http://bit.ly/2bVXaH9
Kaytranada - “Glowed Up” featuring Anderson.Paak:
http://bit.ly/1Whpgj1
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - “100 Days, 100 Nights”:
The video was directed by Adam Elias Buncher using two vintage TV cameras bought on E-Bay for $50 dollars each.
http://bit.ly/131oy1A
