The Goo 1
MAR '25 On the topic of friends: You worked on th
is album with Matt Harris, who also co-produced your debut album. How did it feel going back to the studio with the same person that has been there for you through so many years? I met Matt when I was 19 and all the music I’ve ever released has been produced by him. The relationship I have with him has formed so much of what the music sounds like – there’s especially so much of Matt in this album. He really pushed me to go into different sonic worlds and take some more risks. Especially with an album with more difficult subject matter, it felt like the music needed to be weirder, heavier, riskier. It’s always a comfort having someone who knows you very well. The best thing about working with Matt is that he knows the things I’m good at, but he especially knows the things I have difficulty with, and he is such a force for making you push through that. You said a moment in recording where you stepped out of your comfort zone was whilst recording these haunting screams during your track ‘Appointments’. Are there any other moments like that on the album where you feel like you stepped outside of yourself in a way? I particularly love the album opener – ‘Like A Wave’. That actually started the whole body of work. It was one of the first demos I’d sent Matt. It was just me singing that refrain over an acoustic guitar, and then Matt said ‘It’s okay if you hate it, but don’t hate it straight away’ and sent me something where he had taken out the guitar and had created this bed of atmosphere and synths – it just blew open a door for me. It really made me think: ‘Okay, maybe the guitar is not the focal point of my writing in this, maybe this is more about the world we can build around that.’ That was particularly special. There was one lyric in ‘Something Better’ that really stood out to me: ‘Tired of everything I sing about’ – I was wondering how do you feel about playing these heavy songs live and does that ever get easier? That’s a great question. Honestly, some of these songs I don’t think I will play live – certain ones for me just exist in that recorded sphere. I also don’t feel in the place that I was when I made it anymore; I feel in a much more joyous place and lighter place, and have been writing music that’s reflective of that. It took me a minute to allow myself to make that decision, but some of them I will probably always play. I think, as you heal, they get easier to sing and also they become less about you, but about the people listening. Do you have anything envisioned for the album after its release and how its world might develop? I made this album feeling much more isolated than I feel now, and I have had a year of healing and growing, and also building my community, that when I envision the world of this album existing I want it to exist in community spaces. I think it’s a body of work about finding your power again, finding your agency. I want to create spaces and experiences for people that allow them to feel similar. Because it was such a sort of lonely thing to make in a lot of ways, I want the release of it to be the opposite; I’m just thinking of ways of celebrating it and anchoring it in joy and connection. So I have some little things planned around release week. I’ve been doing living room shows and also started a writing workshop last year, and I’m hoping to do way more of that – anything that brings people together. I feel how the album will exist will be less about the songs and more about the feeling of it and bringing people together. I’m also writing more stuff because I don’t want it to be another three years before I put out something else; I’m hoping to follow it up with something more joyful soon. The world of the album – sonically and thematically– felt really supported by the cover. What’s the story behind that? I love the cover. My friend, Tara Mollan, shot the artwork. For this album, I wanted to have a chair in it. Originally my thoughts were to build an entire waiting room set somehow, but the further I went down that path, the more I realised how expensive it would be. Then I wandered into a charity shop one day, and was like: ‘That’s the chair.’ I got it for like 10€ and was just going to see what comes to mind. I’m always influenced by the sea – I feel like it grounds me, anytime I’m anxious I look at the sea. And then that image kind of just came in my head, so we just shot it together one morning. Eventually, the chair made its way into every other artwork and photo, and to me it feels like the physical representation of dragging something with you wherever you go. Lastly, what’s next for you musically and personally? Musically, I will be doing a small tour in April and am planning to do a few festivals later in the year. Personally, I’m plugging back into making more things and possibly building a bigger world online; Just little ways in which I can connect with people and connect them in turn. Maria Kelly’s second album Waiting Room is out now. She plays The Unitarian Church on Friday April 11th. Tickets: www.singularartists.ie 9