Taking their moniker from a non-existent town imagined by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, the electronica produced by this duo has considerably more substance than their namesake, but the other-worldly synth’n’beats and hypnotic vocals on sophomore single ‘Wake Up (The War Machine)’ generate a similar air of austere mystery. So we took a deep breath, and stepped off the platform and onto the train to Macon Heights…

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Who?

Carrie (vocals) & Alexis Beattie (beats) – both contribute to the song writing process.
CB: I often work on the chord progression to match a melody idea that’s been running round my head then hand it over to Alexis who sorts out the arrangement; synth sounds, structure, bass line and drums etc.

AB: With this new project we’ve been working on the minimalism within our production sound – stripping back excess layers and textures to create something more focused.

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Where?

Formed in Edinburgh 2018 the band launched with a few shows in our favourite venues including Le Gambetta Club (Paris) and The Dublin Castle (London). We’ve been lucky to support great bands including Joe Bone & The Dark Vibes in Glasgow at Ivory Blacks and Patawawa at The Mash House, Edinburgh. We both love playing live and are always on the lookout for new and interesting venues.

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When?

We met whilst studying music at Perth College back in 1999 and have stuck together ever since. We’ve produced music together in many different guises; Guantanamo Bay a post- punk 4-piece who supported The Fire Engines, Savage Sound System is Alexis’s experimental electronic collective and the Sacre Noir is Carrie’s trip-hop baby (who went out on a high supporting Chrysta Bell of Twin Peaks fame – we are both pretty obsessed with David Lynch).

We decided to put out some more danceable, electronica under the name Macon Heights in 2018 as some of the new material we were writing didn’t seem to fit with any of the other projects.

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What?

Retro-Electro inspired synth sounds and layered vocals. Crunchy beats to make you dance and dark lyrics to make you think.

So far we’ve released 2 singles both accompanied by music videos filmed and edited by Gregor Fergie. We plan an EP release before the end of the year and hope to be performing live again before too long. (NOTE: written during lockdown)

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Why?

We both love working on music and can’t imagine a time when that will change.

Both studio and live experiences inspire us in different ways and help to create our story through sounds. We have always loved that our music allows us to travel and play in new places, to new crowds and that’s one of the biggest hopes for the future – we can continue to do that.

We are both fans of mixed-media are (for us combining music and moving images) – we love working with Erin Culley (the make-up artist who has worked on every Sacre Noir & Macon Heights video release, as well as some live shows) and can’t wait to see what we can come up with together next.

The band’s current single can be streamed on Spotify, downloaded at Bandcamp, or seen at the Gregor Fergie -directed video below.

More at savagerecordings.com/maconheights

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