Name: Marianne Parrish (AKA Maja Lena)
Nationality: British
Occupation: Musician
Current Release: Pluto on Chiverin Records
Recommendations: Drive My Car by Ryusuke Hamaguch (adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story) / ‘Falling Asleep Under Pine Trees’ by Domenique Dumont
If you enjoyed this interview with Maja Lena, you can find links to her socials and updates about shows and new releases on her website www.majalena.co.uk
When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?
I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember as it was quite a big part of my childhood. I played the flute from primary school into my teens and started playing guitar in my teens. My older sister used to make up fun songs with me when I was a kid and then I began writing songs in my early teens, I think mostly about wild horses and some terrible love songs haha. We would sing Leonard Cohen songs together (I grew to fully love and appreciate his music from my late teens) but I also loved S Club 7!! In my teens, I loved listening to my brother’s music, Radiohead in particular, but also became obsessed with the 60’s and 70’s folk scene, largely thanks to my parent's tastes & my Dad's records. In particular, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Pentangle, Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band, Can, The Velvet Underground… It felt like a natural form of expression to me, a way of connecting with others, easier than general conversation and socialising which I’ve always found much more difficult. Music would move & affect me in a way that felt unique and addictive. Listening to early Sandy Denny demos for example would give me a really special feeling and be a powerful evocative experience.
Some people experience intense emotion when listening to music, others see colours or shapes. What is your own listening experience like and how does it influence your approach to music?
It depends what mood I’m in. I feel quite sensitive to music in general so if it’s in my control, I’m usually quite particular with what I have on. I sometimes go for months where I don’t put anything on myself as I just want quiet for my brain, and then I might have a few months where I listen to the same few artists intensely. Then at other times I’ll feel more receptive to a broad mixture, or I'll be in the mood for discovery. Often, I’ll feel music in parts of my body such as my chest, especially if it’s a particularly emotional listen, and sometimes I’ll see images. Often when I’m writing a song or working on the sonic landscape for it, I’ll be trying to bring particular images and their mood to life.
How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?
I’ve always been quite focused on trying to develop and expand my sound, and doing so collaboratively. I like to keep building on things as well as trying to let them transform and take shape naturally, and have enjoyed the challenge of this.
My biggest challenge has probably been performing live. I’ve always struggled with intense nerves which used to and sometimes still get in the way of me being able to enjoy performing live, but I’ve been trying really hard to work on this over the years and to find more tools to help with the nerves. Slowly I’ve been able to enjoy performing live more and more, and therefore feel like I’m able to play a bit better too, so for me that’s felt like a big breakthrough.
Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.
I’m generally pretty introverted and solitary. I like to spend a lot of time in nature and with animals. If I’m going to listen to something intensely or something new I often like to do so alone so I’m not also focusing on or being affected by other people’s listening experiences and judgements. I also love to be alone when writing - I struggle to find the space mentally or be in the right place if I’m around other people, whereas alone I can let go and immerse myself much more easily.
I do however love the process of making a record with someone once I’ve written the songs. I also enjoy listening to particular sorts of music with other people, e.g dancing with friends to something fun and uplifting or listening to a playlist together in the van on the way to a gig. Me and my husband Luke watch a lot of old music videos together which I really enjoy - I love visuals to go with music, and we play a regular music quiz which can be a fun way to explore different genres I may not usually listen to.
What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?
A combination of organic and electronic/more futuristic. I’m fascinated by nature, space and sci-fi, so I like to try and bring them into it, e.g by having organic and acoustic instruments such as nylon guitar and clarinets alongside loads of synthesizers.
How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?
I think a combination. I listen to a mixture of both - music that feels timeless to me and music that feels unusual and futuristic to me. I think I strive for a bit of both in my music, but always like to try and push myself to take things in a new or different direction which is helped greatly by working with my friend and producer Rob Pemberton. He always seems to be able to bring to life any unusual sounds I’m after and is always up for exploring new dimensions.
Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?
In my early teens, I would write on a keyboard (I had one with some great loops) and the piano, and then in my later teens became more drawn to nylon guitar, particularly my Dad’s guitar which he's lent me - a beautiful 1960’s Yamaha that he reconstructed after it was broken. It has a deep and mellow sound which travels through into your chest when you play it, and a real soul. I’ve since written most of my songs on this guitar and it's the deepest I’ve ever loved an instrument.
I usually just box up in the attic with it to write, and spend hours noodling away, having a conversation with it. Sometimes part of a song forms, once in a blue moon a full song (a rare yet joyous occurrence when that happens, especially if I still like the song the next day!) and sometimes just a noodle or a play of something familiar. More recently I’ve been writing a bit on synths too to try and conjure a particular mood I might be after.
I like to get a guitar or synth part I’ve written lodged in my head or take it away as a phone memo, play around with the vocal melody and lyrics a bit whilst doing something repetitive and mundane like the washing up, and then take it back to the instrument to keep working on it. I'll then often repeat this process as much as I feel is needed/till the song is finished.
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.
On a music day:
Have breakfast and feed our dog Titus
Take Titus for a walk if he’s staying with me for the day (most days he goes up to the farm where me and my husband work)
Catch-up on admin/write/rehearse - whichever needs to take priority
Lunch-break with a little walk/run/cycle (on a good day!)
More admin or playing music
Have dinner, yoga, play guitar & watch Star Trek
On a work day at the farm:
Have breakfast and feed our dog Titus
Head over to the farm
Veg and salad harvest if I’m working on the veg, or feed the horses their hay (in the Autumn/Winter) and do chores such as scraping up the horse muck and tending to the horses and other animals
Lunch break & sometimes a quick admin catch-up
More veg & yard chores, e.g planting out seedlings
Have dinner, yoga, play guitar/music catch-up & watch Star Trek
Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?
At the moment it’s probably “Through The Wall” from the new album. I wrote it whilst we were recording Pluto as a way of processing some thoughts that had been coming up and that I wanted to work through on my own. I wasn’t sure if I liked the song initially and it felt almost too soppy to me, yet it still felt cathartic to play it, and I couldn’t stop playing it - it took me a while to be able to play the guitar part and sing it simultaneously and I enjoyed the challenge of that, playing it over and over. It felt almost meditative.
Rob and I recorded it live with him on a stripped back drum kit one very rainy afternoon, and then Emma Gatrill wrote and recorded parts on her clarinet from afar. When she sent it over I was bowled over by how beautiful the parts were and it felt like the recording had come together and finally made sense to me, also aided by bass added by Rob and Alex Heane and a great chorusy riff that Alex had come up with. It’s become one of my favourites to play live, especially on my husband’s Dan Electro with the chorus pedal on, with the band and when Rachael Dadd and Charlotte West join in on the backing vocals - it makes me feel peaceful and happy playing it with them. Hopefully we’ll have Emma joining us on the clarinet for some future gigs too as that would really be the cherry on top for me!
Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?
I’ve realised I spoke about this in answer to an earlier question! But I’ll expand on that here. I think the bits I find the most intense, such as listening to something new or wanting to delve deeply into particular music I like to do alone, just as I much prefer to write songs alone, yet when it comes to listening to music in a more casual context, I enjoy being with people, as I do when taking my own songs into the recording and production realm. At that point I’m usually feeling more open to other ideas and writing and adding more parts with someone. I think I find this process easiest one on one with someone though, especially with someone like Rob, who I’ve been working with for years and who I feel comfortable sharing new ideas with and writing parts with.
How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?
I feel I can only speak for myself here and from my own experience. In terms of my music, I hope that it can be cathartic to people to listen to, and hope that some of it is uplifting and can transport people somewhere relaxing for a while. In terms of society, again speaking for myself, to be an outlet, a form of expression, a release, provide hope, be transportive, to soothe, to be a safe place, a tardis, to bring people together, to connect and to disconnect, to be a form of therapy (for people and animals), to heal, to pass the time, to speak when words aren’t needed or necessary, to give a feeling of belonging, purpose, to provide company... I could go on and on!
Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?
Nearly constantly and for as long as I can remember, for pretty much anything going on! Growing up and I think this is still the case, my Dad would always play guitar in the evenings after the work day was done, which to me has always seemed like his way of processing the day. That has stayed with me and become something I often do too. It relaxes my brain if I’m feeling stressed and this along with listening to music is the case for me with any bigger life events that have happened too.
There seems to be increasing interest in a functional, “rational” and scientific approach to music. How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?
Music has always been an emotional rather than rational process for me.
The scientific element being more about the technological side of music making and experimenting with new ways to make and record sound. I have been engaging with a lot of early New Age music (Mike Oldfield, Suzanne Ciani, Jean Michele Jarre..) finding myself drawn to the creative interplay between the technological breakthroughs of the time and the creative process. Then turning it into music that sounded totally new. The breakthrough of software like Pro Tools gave every bedroom producer the freedom to record and edit with ease, kind of liberating access to music through scientific/technological advancement.
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
Haha… I’m definitely a coffee fiend, but yes I think writing and performing to me feels pretty different to anything - like many things it can be a great form of processing, releasing, and expression but it’s also a language for me that I find it much easier to communicate and I think to understand others through. I can at least attempt to express anything through music, whether it’s to others or just to myself.
Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?
Wow big question! I’m not sure I’m entirely qualified to answer that one. As I covered previously, my engagement with music has been from a more emotional place. But I would ruminate that music creators pour a lot of their own feeling and experience into their music so it would make sense that a listener would connect with it thematically through their own experience. This kind of creates a shared experience between creator and consumer where deep and difficult subjects can be explored without the need for articulation.
