From the tangled folk roots of That Iron Taste through to the swarming psychedelia of Sugar Blind and Deaf Heat, there’s a distinct sense of adventure to Marika’s songwriting. Over this trilogy of hugely revered EPs her extraordinary songs have continued to develop and evolve, whilst still retaining the same beauty and invention that make her vision truly unique.
Marika Hackman; an artist who is more likely to quote proto-feminist ghost stories such as the ‘Yellow Wallpaper’ than align with audience expectations of a woman prepared to “sing a few nice songs with a pretty voice and then forget about it”.
Clearly she’s made of more substance than her contemporaries.
A captivating vocalist and incredibly attractive individual who is more interested in challenging perceptions of what songwriting can or should be in modern times, to bring us a greater sense of truth and understanding of current issues, from the forms of the past.
“All mainstream music is written in such a lazy way. It’s all a formula of where to put each chorus and hook, its robotic in its creation. People don’t really have to listen because they know they’ll be able to hum the chorus back after one minute, I think the clever placement of hooks and big chorus’ con people into thinking they’re actually enjoying it rather than being aware that it’s just running along a well beaten track in their brains.”
She expresses, asserting that her own frustration with this situation has coloured her approach to bring something better to the masses.
This approach links back to her approach to production, initially working with mentor Johnny Flynn and Adam Beach in a scenario in which inventive ideas were encouraged in a familial and confidence building scenario, before working with Charlie Andrew who had recently completed work on the Mercury Award Winning, Alt-J album.
“We took each song and stripped it back to the basic guitar part and vocal and then played around on different instruments to build up the layers. On retina television we decided to not use any instruments at all and try and build up the song only using sounds from my body, so as well as singing and humming I was doing stuff like tapping my teeth and jumping. We drew the line at burping though…”
It comes as a surprise to learn that not one of the 12 original songs on those three EPs has made it onto Marika’s debut album, We Slept At Last, a decision that speaks of cussed self-confidence and a desire to keep moving and evade glib definition.
We Slept At Last is an assured and endlessly intriguing debut album that rewards every repeated listen with new riches. Produced by long-term collaborator Charlie Andrew (Alt-J), each song uncovers an artist undaunted to challenge traditional conventions to create something that’s at once classic and contemporary.
Having wowed audiences across the UK in December with the addition of her newly formed live band, Marika Hackman now comes to Europe for her first headline tour.
