M/X Q/A – The Croft, Bristol – 06/11/2026

I caught up with one of Bristol’s finest ahead of their headline show at The Croft to celebrate their barnstorming EP, Circle. Now, I’m a huge fan of both the record and the band, so it was a pleasure to dive into their origins, songwriting process, and what drives them. This is a band that lives it, breathes it and means it. They also have the songs to back it all up. Lucky Magic.

Q: How would you like to introduce yourselves to the magicbarnesreviews readers?

Max: We're a trio. We're not originally from Bristol, but we're living here because we love it. We started as a punk band, and now we're kind of a "fuck around and find out" band. We're always playing around with different ideas and sounds. We don't quite know exactly what we are anymore, but we try to have fun.

Q: I saw you described online as "dream punk". What does this mean to you?

Max: I think that was us, actually. We kind of made it up.

Looking through our discography, I'd say the term started to make sense around a track called MOMA. For us, it's about the tension between aggression and vulnerability. You might have softer, brighter sounds but still have heaviness underneath.

Those two elements are constantly pushing and pulling against one another. Songs like MOMA, Thagrius and maybe Lunch have those dreamier qualities while still carrying an edge.

But for me, dream punk isn't really about a specific sound. It's more about giving ourselves permission to make whatever music we want to make.

Q: Listening to the EP, it feels like you could go in any direction. Is that intentional?

Liv: That's exactly the idea. If you compare our earliest releases to what we're doing now, we've taken huge detours within just three years.

We used to box ourselves in. We'd write something and think: "This isn't punk enough." "It needs to be louder." "It needs to be faster." Eventually we realised that wasn't very fun.

The moment you define something too clearly, it starts limiting what it can become. We wanted the opposite of that.

We all come from different musical backgrounds as well. It would be a shame not to let all of those influences mix together.

Q: What influences would surprise somebody listening to your music?

Max: Most of my childhood and teenage years were spent listening to hip-hop and UK grime. That's where my love of music comes from. Stuff like lyricism, wordplay and groove. You can hear some of that influence coming through in tracks like No Such Thing.

Mimi: I listen to loads of Daft Punk, so disco beats sneak their way into the music.

I also grew up playing in orchestral settings at school. That shaped the way I approach drumming. I love linear grooves where everything feels separate and deliberate. A classic example is 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.

Liv: For me it's folk. Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago is probably my favourite album ever. Then there's Sufjan Stevens, Laura Marling and Big Thief.

That's the music that really makes me feel something. A lot of the melodies I write come from those influences.

Q: Do you listen to Fenne Lily?

Liv: Yeah, definitely. We also love October Drift. They're brilliant.

Q: The EP came out recently. Does it still represent where you are now, or have you already moved on?

Max: We recorded it in April, so it's a good snapshot of where we were.

But if you compare the leap we made between our first and second EPs, we'd like to make an even bigger jump next. We're trying to push ourselves as much as possible with songwriting, arrangements and experimentation.

The goal is to get as much of all three of us into the music as possible.

Q: Where did Level With Me come from? I love that opening riff.

Liv: It's a good story. I'd spent way too long doom-scrolling on my phone and got to that point where you're asking yourself, "What am I actually doing?"

As punishment, I noticed there were ten minutes left on the washing machine cycle and decided I was going to sit there and just stare at the washing machine until it finished. No stimulation.

While I was sitting there, the riff suddenly appeared in my head. I filmed myself playing it, brought it into practice and it came together really naturally.

I had no idea how to structure it. Max basically said, "Let's just play the whole thing twice." That became the song.

Later in the studio Mimi improvised loads of trumpet takes. We originally planned to fade them out, but they sounded too good. What you hear at the end is multiple trumpet improvisations stacked on top of one another.

Q: That's amazing.

Mimi: There's another fun detail. The intro we use at live shows is actually the ending of Level With Me played backwards.

Max: When we talk about having a punk attitude, we're not really talking about genre. We're talking about fun, friendship and dancing. That's our big three.

Level With Me is really about connection and togetherness. Even when things feel difficult, other people are often what brings you back to yourself.

Q: Pick a song from the EP and tell me its origin story.

Max: Let's do Numbers. It's unusual because the lyrics didn't come from my own life.

For a while I became obsessed with Norse mythology, particularly Odin. The song is about the point where Odin sacrifices himself in pursuit of knowledge.

In the mythology, he hangs himself for nine days and nine nights. One version of the text says he sacrifices himself to the god he has yet to become. The song is focused on that moment.

Q: That's quite a story.

Max: Musically, it's also full of changing time signatures. The project file ended up being covered in numbers representing the time changes, so we called the song Numbers.

Q: You should probably rename some of these songs.

Liv: The problem is we always use temporary names and then they become permanent. Level With Me got its title because somebody happened to say, "Okay, level with me..." Then it stuck forever.

Q: What's another song from the EP that tells us something about the band?

Liv: Let's talk about St Mary's. That song is kind of a Frankenstein creation. The music came from one unfinished song, while some of the lyrics came from another idea entirely. It's about difficult relationships, change and uncertainty.

Max: For me there's also this feeling of trying to find joy despite knowing something huge and uncontrollable may be coming. Almost like having one last brilliant summer with your friends before the world ends.

It's about recognising that life is complicated and relationships can be difficult, but still understanding how important those people are. "We haven't got much, but we've got each other."

There's actually a Spider-Man 2 reference hidden in there.

Q: Really?

Max: Yeah. We watched it together and ended up borrowing a line from a scene involving Peter Parker and Mary Jane.

Q: What's the most excited you've ever been by your own music?

Liv: The first time we put something on streaming services was surreal. But creatively, I'd probably say Lunch. It's one of the songs where I genuinely thought: "I'd actually listen to this myself." That's a big thing as a songwriter.

Often there's a gap between your taste and your ability. With that song, it felt like the gap got a bit smaller. It also opened the door to a lot of what later became the EP.

Q: A question from Lowenna King, M/X fan, aged 9 (played over a speaker for effect): How does it feel to sing or shout your emotions to people around you who might be feeling exactly the same thing?

Max: It feels incredible. We've talked about this after rehearsals before. Sometimes after practice I'm completely wired.

I think part of it is the physical act of projecting and shouting. There's a huge adrenaline rush involved. But when you're doing that in a room full of people who are shouting the words back at you, it becomes something bigger than yourself.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's a bit like that scene in Midsommar where everyone is screaming together. There's this feeling of shared emotion and connection. It's powerful.

I also love stepping away from the microphone and just projecting naturally. It feels amazing.

Liv: As instrumentalists, we're moving our hands and playing parts we've practised. But Max is standing there shouting words he's written about things he's genuinely felt. It's a very different experience.

Q: What are your favourite Bristol venues?

Mimi: The Lanes has to be near the top. It always sounds good and there's something uniquely Bristol about having bowling lanes attached to a music venue.

Liv: Exchange has also been really important for us. We played our second single release show there, so we've got a lot of memories.

Mimi: The Jam Jar is great.

Liv: Cafe Kino's basement is seriously underrated. It's got the atmosphere of a basement venue without feeling unpleasant. It almost feels like a secret venue.

Max: One of the strangest gigs we've seen was at Ashton Court Manor during a festival. A crowd-surfer got carried completely out of the room by mistake, disappeared for a moment and then came floating back in again. It was hilarious.

Q: What's next for the band?

Max: We've done a couple of EPs now and we've learned a lot about what we enjoy and what works for us. The next step is to get playful again.

We're trying not to think too much about the business side of music and just focus on making something exciting. Hopefully the next thing we release will be bigger, more adventurous and truly representative of all three of us.

Q: Are you already writing?

Max: Yeah, we're writing now. We're going to spend a lot of time with our heads down, working on new material.

There are some festival slots coming up next year and we'll be back on the road, but right now the focus is writing and enjoying the process.

Q: Winter is the perfect time for that.

Max: Exactly.

Q: Thank you so much for your time.

Band: Thank you. And tell Lowenna that was a brilliant question.