he highlight of my year was sitting in that room with Charlie, just me and him, after it had been fully mastered…” Marika Hackman is describing hearing her debut album in full for the first time. “We were surrounded by these amazing speakers and listened to it in complete silence from start to finish… then we just high-fived afterwards.”
To say this record is long overdue would be an understatement of almost detox-like proportions, yet when one hears We Slept At Last for the first time, the wait makes perfect sense.
A coherent, free-flowing release, Hackman’s full length debut effortlessly develops the unique sound she cultivated throughout her string of EP’s over the last few years, seemingly fusing the most resonant facets of her style with a fresh, forward thinking energy.
Her growth as an artist has become increasingly apparent with each new release, yet this album takes things to a whole new level, bringing in more experimental elements and transcending the mere ‘anti-folk’ tags that have been thrown at her since her emergence.
“I never want to be bound by preconceptions of how things should sound.” she says as we sit down for coffee in London’s Brick Lane on a muggy Thursday morning, four days before the album’s release. “There are parts of this record that are grunge, cowboy, acoustic, electronic and surfy. If there’s a style I liked I wanted to to put it on the album and not worry about keeping things to a certain formula.”
Her decision to embrace a wealth of genres and ultimately craft her sound in a new light is a testament to Hackman’s ingenuity and fearlessness in the industry, something further proved by her decision to feature exclusively new tracks on the release, a matter she feels passionately about: “People obviously know that familiarity is the best way to get accepted, but I just don’t agree with it, it’s almost fear based because they think that if they don’t include the old singles people won’t buy the record.”
This arguably risky move has definitely worked in her favour when one considers the strength of the album, and if past singles were thrown into the rich tapestry of the release it simply wouldn’t feel as meticulously crafted or resonate in the same way. Making the move from EP’s into a full length record though is an undeniably difficult move for some artists that could easily be – and is – overthought by many artists, yet it seems for Hackman it felt like an organic progression, simply choosing to neglect the unspoken pressure on her. “I try not to let myself imagine things and focus on the present matters at hand instead, I did feel after the EP’s that I wanted to do something more stripped back with more space, but still put electronic sounds in and fuck around with things a bit. I think there’s moments to breathe and moments of intensity on there, it’s all about finding the balance.”
The balance she discusses has without doubt been perfected on We Slept At Last, but it is Hackman’s lyrical progression that has perhaps been the most intriguing. Her material has always been emotionally grounded, yet on this release she puts things across with even more effortless poignancy, every line possessing an astonishing depth, left for fans to interpret things in different ways. Delicately sipping on her chai-tea, she explains how soul-shattering changes in her life led to this development. “I think it was just a natural progression, maturing and growing up a bit…” she ponders, “I moved to London and had more space, then I came out of a relationship at the beginning of the year which had been really long, so I suddenly felt very isolated. I had never been single since I had left education and I was away from my family, but it was really good because it freed up my ideas around lyrics and melodies.”
She continues to explain how isolating herself for some time last year saw all the material for the record come to fruition, a creative style that once again sets Hackman apart from her contemporaries, the album feeling like a raw snapshot of her life at this time, rather than a hodgepodge of past ideas. “There were no distractions, I could just sit in my room and work my arse off. Life happened around me and I had to accept it.”
Although life changing circumstances can see an artist harness their most impressive creative vision, she explains she didn’t want to let the raw feelings overwhelm her songwriting, instead, she chose to look at this changing mindset in an abstract, almost sideways manner, a trait which lends itself to the storytelling nature of her lyrical craft. “It’s all about balance, obviously you can be more creative in a mindset like that but it’s dangerous, and you can’t chase those emotions too much despite feeling more creative, it’s difficult.”
Equally, she wants her fans to experience her music in different ways, an unsurprising trait considering the intricacies of each track on the record, which means using her experiences to her advantage in small measures, keeping personal feelings at a distance and instead expressing her thoughts through a passion for language.
“I think i’ve kept the balance right, and things are abstract enough to seem separated. I’m never gonna write a song with frank, candid lyrics, that just isn’t me, like “I’m reallly saaaad“. I like playing to people knowing they can interpret things how they want as well, and can think about the lyrics as much as the want.”
Alongside her musical development, Hackman has undeniably built up her brand and visual identity in recent months. After debuting stunning, cinematic videos for singles ‘Drown’ and ‘Animal Fear’ in recent weeks, the perfect testament to this visual growth is the artwork for the album itself, which comes with a selection of stunning photographs suited for each track, the result of working with acclaimed photographer Glen Erier, a move she describes as “like something out of a weird independent film”.
Detailing how she was a fan of Erier before their collaboration, she continues to explain how she has a hand in every part of how she is presented, which is why everything links together with her music so seamlessly. “I just think when you’re creating music, and you’re writing that from start to finish, I don’t know why you’d just stop and not control the whole process.”
The same trend applies to her live show, which has become suitably grander over time to suit the ever-expanding nature of her sound. Unexpectedly though, I learn that she intends on embarking on her next tour solo, a hark back to her early live dates that will allow fans to appreciate the new material in a more intimate, stripped back way, a move she’s admittedly nervous about, but will no doubt thrive on after her recent run of arena dates supporting Alt-J.
Away from her personal mindset or what critical opinion might behold, we start to examine how important this record is to other people in Marika’s life, particularly her parents. In our last interview, she explained how they have been fundamental in her development both as a person and an artist, and the first port of call for testing new material.
“They’ve been involved in the process so much and they heard me writing the songs, so they’re really happy it’s finally coming out as well.” she details with a sly smile, before explaining that she hasn’t avoided the embarrassment that ensues from parental pride. “They always just get drunk and put it on the speakers when i’m not there… that’s quite cute though (laughs).”
It’s always been apparent from our interviews over the years that Marika Hackman is an artist that has everything together, a definitive sound combined with creative foresight and a passion for doing things differently to her contemporaries. It is this combination that makes her long-awaited debut album such a stunning piece of work, a perfect testament to her development so far and proof that she will continue to develop and astound in the future. Few artists remain unpredictable so far into their career, which is ultimately what makes her one of the most important artists in British music at the moment (even if people continue to describe her as ‘anti-folk’).
Marika Hackman’s debut album We Slept At Last is out now on Dirty Hit Records, listen to the record in full below.
The post In Words // An Interview With Marika Hackman appeared first on When The Gramophone Rings.