I first came to know about the modern indie folk duo March to May a couple of years ago when they appeared at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts. Made up of Darren Guyaz and Beth Wesche, the Seattle-based twosome have just released their debut full-length album, “Through the Night,” the follow-up to their EP “The Water’s Edge.”

The duo will be touring in support of the CD with an appearance Monday evening at Slates in Hallowell. To that end, I called Wesche and Guyaz in Seattle to find out what’s been happening since last we spoke.

Q: Now, this is going to be your first time at Slates, correct?

Guyaz: Yeah, it is. It’s funny, but back before they had the fire, Beth and I went to see a show there, in the old space, randomly one Monday night; so it’s nice actually to be able to go back and play there even though it’s in a different space. Yeah, we’re excited to play there — it’s only a 10-to-15-minute drive to where I grew up.

Q: Oh, that’s right. I remember now that there is a Maine connection to March to May, and you’re the one: the Maine person.

Guyaz: Yup, I grew up in Winthrop.

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Q: About your new CD “Through the Night”: It seems like a natural progression from your EP.

Wesche: Yeah, we feel the same way. We feel like there’s been an evolution of the style, but it’s still true to its form.

Q: When you perform in Hallowell, it will just be the two of you, not the full band, right?

Wesche and Guyaz: Yeah.

Q: Having listened to that CD, I can definitely hear how well the songs would translate to a duo performance.

Guyaz: Yeah, that’s something that we find we get for feedback quite often in the sense that the core of the songs are the two of us; and when you add the band, it definitely gives it that fuller sound of the strings and the trumpet and the drums. But really, one of what I think is the key factors of our live performances is what we two can bring to the stage.

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Wesche: Yeah, and something that’s been interesting in that is we write all of the songs as a duo — without the band involved — and when we go and record and we add in the rest of our band, it’s always a thought that the other instruments should be additive instead of necessary.

Q: Have you ever thought of doing a live recording as a duo?

Wesche: We have, actually — have not done it yet, but it’s been on our minds.

Guyaz: We’ve actually talked about potentially doing a bunch of sets pared down — mainly (an) acoustic album, as well, so that’s definitely possible for the future.

Q: Oh, that’s a good point. When you perform as a duo, do you do so acoustically?

Weschet: No, we’re always plugged in.

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Guyaz: Almost always.

Wesche: Almost, yeah, that’s true (laughter). There have been a few notable exceptions, but normally we’re plugged in. It gives us a little bit more control of the balance of the sound when we’re playing for a larger audience. If we’re trying to produce a lot of volume, my harp will be a lot louder than Darren’s guitar, and …

Guyaz: And then the harp will be a lot louder than our vocals. Being plugged in really helps to get the vocals up about the instruments when we’re playing live.

Q: You use it for amplification as opposed to augmentation?

Wesche: Yes.

Q: Well, Slates performances are more like playing in a living room rather than on a concert stage.

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Guyaz: Two years ago when we played at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts, we wound up playing the whole show unplugged, actually, which was a pretty interesting experience.

Wesche: Yeah, it was a big concert hall and I can’t remember what happened, but the sound system was down for some reason, so we just moved to the very front of the stage so we had the best chance of being heard, belted out the songs and did the whole show completely unplugged.

Q: I’ll be darned — and that place has very good acoustics, as I recall.

Wesche: Yeah, it is a perfect space and it added an interesting intimacy to the show especially because it was more than a small space, but we were able to make it work.

Q: Are you going to be doing other shows while you’re up here in Maine?

Guyaz: No, that’s the only show in Maine, but we are playing up in northern New Hampshire as well as shows further down along the East Coast, like in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and D.C.

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Wesche: And about that Philly show, we’re actually going to be playing a live radio show on Echoes — one of their “Living Room Concerts” shows. The show “Echoes,” one of the NPR’s affiliates, has been kind enough to be playing our albums, so we’re planning to go play live for them, as well.

Q: When did “Through the Night” come out?

Wesche: In April. It’s still wet behind the ears.

Q: So I guess the folks at Slates will be hearing songs from both of your CDs.

Guyaz: It’s likely, since we’re playing a two-hour set. We will probably play almost every song on the EP and the new album.

Wesche: As well as some new ones. It’s been interesting. Even though we did just release “Through the Night,” we are still writing, so you’ll get to hear some new material as well.

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Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?

Wesche: Just to urge people to check us out online. We have videos that should give people a sense of what to expect and we have a new video that should be coming out this fall so if they follow us on social media or on YouTube, they’ll get to see that, as well.

Guyaz: I’d like to pass on to the readers, as well. It’s that we really enjoy coming back to Maine in the fall, especially, but just in general we’ve had a really good reception from the audiences every time we’ve played in Maine. Our song “The Navigator” was named by someone in the audience in Maine a few years ago.

Lucky Clark has spent 45 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.


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