My first introduction to John Maus was at Sugar Mountain, back when the festival was housed within the Forum. Playing quite early on the main stage, Maus came onto the stage with a mic and a vocal effects pedal of some kind – and ended up yelling to a backing track and hitting himself in the head for 40 minutes. I was in love. The synth master made his triumphant return to music with last year’s, Screen Memories, but the release was co-announced with a career-spanning 6xLP box-set, featuring an LP companion album, Addendum. Well turns out that Addendum will not just be an box-set-only release. Now that we’re getting the whole thing, Maus has released ‘Episode’ to the streaming universe. The track is backed with a steady beat and a pop-like structure, but in a completely hazy-Maus way. It could easily slip in with ‘Keep Pushing On’ on We Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves. So if you’re looking for a spooky soundscape you can also dance to, look no further.
Addendum is out May 18 via Ribbon Music.