Masca – a Bristol trio made up of Christina Maynard (vocals, guitar), Jack Hamilton (drums, vocals) and Ben Holyoake (bass) – are all set to unleash their debut album ‘Love Letters’. It’s a record powered by love, belief and a refusal to stop creating, while also being a celebration of the power of love, music and family.

‘Act My Age’ opens the album with woozy pop hooks and Tina pondering whether it’s worth giving up the fun and joy to stick with tradition – no chance: ‘Maybe I should retrain? Maybe I should grow up? Forget it!’ ‘Elevate’ follows with fast-paced hooks, bouncy melodies and a pulsating rhythm section: ‘There’s a pressure to live, a pressure to die’. There’s also talk of what Mr Zuckerberg wants us all to do…

Recent single ‘Love Letters’ examines why you should never give up on yourself, even when ‘your dreams are wearing thin’. Tina asks ‘Am I running out of time?’ over crunching riffs and you can feel the defiance in her voice. There’s more of an orchestral or theatrical tone to ‘Oxytocin’ with its stop-start guitars and bombastic chorus, while ‘Sucker’ takes the record into a more soulful De’Wayne-esque direction.

‘DWIW’ hits the sweet spot between Tigercub and Orchards, while ‘Bones’ mixes up Yeah Yeah Yeahs grit with a chamber pop edge and a promise that ‘I’m not changing’. ‘Diggin” tells a few home truths – ‘You’re a hypocrite, everybody is’ – before asking the ultimate question of ‘how do we get better?’ before ‘Old Friend’ draws the album to a close with a more inwards-looking emo sheen: ‘Oh, the shame’.

As the band put it themselves, ‘Love Letters’ is an album about ‘chasing that moment where melody meets riff, and everything clicks’. In fact, it’s one you’ll fall head over heels for.

SEE MASCA LIVE:
30/05 Southampton – Heartbreaker
05/06 Sheffield – Sidney and Matilda

06/06 Birmingham – Sunflower Lounge