maQLu is the brainchild of Vancouver-based artist/songwriter Pyra Draculea. It started out in 2008 with a series of audio collages and noise works, gradually evolved into mostly song format by the time of the first release, blood, on Walpurgisnacht 2010, and continued in a venomous electro-rock vein through the next few releases: black [2010], haze [2011], Futureghosts [2012] and Malfeasance [2013].
There were also a bunch of more experimental releases, which have since been pulled and rereleased under her own name instead of as maQLu.
Throughout 2013, Draculea grew increasingly frustrated with the world of electronica and industrial and the limitations of the genre, and after a near-death incident on the waters of Sechelt Inlet in July of 2013, she decided to take a little hiatus, get back in touch with her musical roots in bluesy hard rock, and retired her synths to gig bags under her bed and in her closet in favor of taking up guitar.
A final album of electro tunes, just to let the last of that material see the light of day, was compelted and released as Divisive in February 2015.
Apart from that, she is busy planning new musical directions and writing new material (that is, when she’s not goofing off learning to play old Aerosmith and Guns N Roses riffs or surfing eBay for new additions to her already excessive collection of memorabilia from her favorite ’80s sleaze rock bands). Oh, and mostly working on spoken word and stand-up comedy stuff which has nothing to do with the maQLu project or sound, such as her weekly podcasts Under My Skin and The Zamo the Destroyer Show.
Anyway, here’s some self-serving promotional factoids to round out the “About” page:
Futureghosts had maQLu’s best college radio showing to date, with more than 30 chart postions all across Canada, peaking at #98 on !earshot‘s national Top 200 chart for June 2012. Previous EPs blood [2010], black [2010], and haze [2011], [as well as the album version of the three, 2011’s blood.black.haze] also saw airplay and chart positions across the country.
Aside from her own work, maQLu also remixed, preferring to take a minimalist approach that could be called deconstructionist (or maybe “dismembering” is more like it), perhaps best illustrated on “Filth [maQLu Edit]” by Drowning Susan on their 2012 album The Long Count. Other remixes include artists such as Left Spine Down, iVardensphere, Virtual Terrorist, Jakalope, Adaline, c0ndu1t, and the Rabid Whole. Her sludgy industrial cover of Depeche Mode’s “Lie To Me” was recently featured on COMA Music Magazine’s late 2012 compilation Tainted Candy: A Tribute To 80s New Wave.
And let’s wrap up with a couple or three juicy press quotes from the old stuff:
“Combustable dark electro with a twist” [ReGen Magazine]
“An orchestration of foreign, unsettling industrial rock” [The Province]
“A breath of fresh air in the electro scene” [SoundsphereMagazine]