Based in Cardiff, Quiet Marauder take their cue from erratically gifted cult legends such as The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Sparks, Half Man Half Biscuit, Jeffrey Lewis and The Fugs. Powered by the songwriting engine room of Simon M. Read, the band is a rotating cast of players contributing trumpet, tenor horn, bass, melodica, multiple guitars, piano, flute, synths, leather belts, layered vocals and anything else that comes to hand.

Never ones to shy away from big (or entirely irrational) projects, their self-released debut EP re-imagined footballer Alan Shearer as a time traveller turned deity. After multiple attempts to play this personally for Alan were denied, Quiet Marauder instead focussed on creating their first album. Released in 2013, MEN is a 111-song, 4-disc box set conceptually charting the path of the male psyche through love, rejection, breakdown, madness, intoxication and, ultimately, resolution.

Since then, Quiet Marauder have developed a strong association for concept albums. Starting with 11 Shades Of Love in 2015, through their 2017 video-EP Comatose But Dreaming, and into 2019’s The Crack And What It Meant.

The latter of these marked the first in a suite of releases collaborating with Canadian kindred spirits, The Burning Hell. Narrated by Mathias Kom, The Crack And What It Meant describes the emergence of a rip in space and time on the outskirts of Kent, and the social fallout that follows it. It’s definitely not a Brexit metaphor.

More recently, 2020’s Tiny Men Parts revisited their debut, reworking select tracks from it in their live band format. This has been followed by further collaborations with The Burning Hell via Snowbird Studios pop-up recording sessions in Italy and Portugal. These heralded 2021’s folk-oriented The Gift, and the eclectic pop-mashing of 2023’s Introducing Malcolm Del Monte, respectively.

Introducing Malcolm Del Monte also marks a collaboration with band leader Simon M. Read’s imaginary friend. ‘Son of The Man’ Malcolm Del Monte first arrived during the pandemic and stayed long enough to perform a few duets along the way.

Decisively daft, incorrigibly intelligent and darkly comical; Quiet Marauder exist on their own unique wavelength, developing a cult following from all those who tune in.