Maja was kind enough to have a quick chat ahead of her much anticipated headliner at The Louisiana on Jan 27th (TICKETS)
Thank you for taking time out to speak with us Maja. We can’t wait to feature your headline show at Bristol’s Louisiana on the 27th of January.
My pleasure, thanks for having me!
Your sophomore album “Pluto” has been out for just over a month now, must be great to finally have it out there?
Yes definitely! I usually get all kinds of weird feelings come up when releasing music, but it does feel really nice to have it out in the world and I’m really proud of it. I’m so glad we can do a tour for this album too!
You seem a very grounded, earthbound spirit. Whats behind the trip into this cosmos with “Pluto”
Ah thank you! I don’t always feel very grounded, but there are definitely things that I find help, like being out in nature! Pluto was very much a journey with my imagination, where an imagined landscape, and eventually alternate world, materialised through the songs. The events in the songs are a mixture of fictitious scenarios and real-life happenings, but set on this planet with Pluto nearby. This was because the album features Plutonic themes such as: creation, destruction, transformation and renewal. I’d been watching a lot of sci-fi such as Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, so was feeling inspired by a space aesthetic.
You take us on a very different musical escape with this album. The mountains and windswept valleys of “The Keeper” replaced with a sci fi, rocket trip to the heavens.
Did the second album feel like a continuing story or a entirely new book?
I think a mixture of both! It felt like a continuation in that we built upon the sound of the first album but kept key elements of it in there such as the nylon guitar, clarinets and piano. Some of the themes were similar too, the first album was more influenced by external surroundings and happenings. Pluto was much more of an internal venture, so in this way it felt different. I had quite a different vision for this album overall too – I knew I wanted to it to be much more synth-laden and beat driven.
Is drifting amongst the cosmos something that appeals? Would you ever like to journey into space?
Yes absolutely! I’m becoming increasingly more curious about space, but there’s so much I want to learn about our planet too, so I’m also very content to just be earth-exploring for now. If a spaceship on a good and honest mission appeared though and I was given the opportunity to go, I probably wouldn’t say no. So long as my family wanted to come too!
Its a complex album, a lot of the tracks feature multiple layers and detailed soundscapes. Is it fun experimenting with different sounds and concepts or is it quite stressful trying to tell a story with the right sound?
It was really fun for this album! I definitely had moments of frustration initially as I couldn’t quite create the sounds I wanted in my demos of the tracks, but I made the album with my friend and producer Rob Pemberton who always has a talent for conjuring the sounds I’m after, as well as many new ones. It was especially enjoyable bringing the fauna and flora of my alternate planet to life through weird and whacky sounds on our synthesizers. Some of them took longer to find than others, but it felt like a rewarding process.
What would you like the listener to take away from Pluto?
I’d love it to be a room of requirement type situation, where it can give the listener something they may be in need of or would like to take from it, such as relaxation, joy or a place just to be for a little while. But I can only hope for that and I know that it won’t be for everyone.
Do you have a personal favourite on the album. Or does your favourite change depending on your mood? It certainly shifts for me as a listener depending on all the variables of my mood and how my day is going.
It shifts for me too.. When we were recording it was No More Flowers and Clear As The Water as I had the most fun recording them, but currently it’s Daylight Comes Revealing. I think this is because it reflects my current January mood!
Are you looking forward to taking the album on the road? And what are your favourite and least favourite elements of being on tour
Yes I really am! Especially as we couldn’t tour the first album as we were just coming out of lockdown when it was released, so it’ll be my first headline tour for this project! That makes it very nerve-wracking too, as I’m a bit worried no one will come.Fingers crossed! My favourite elements are getting to play music with my lovely band-mates and spend time with them, play the songs to new and familiar faces, see new places and re-visit places I’ve enjoyed going to in the past, stay with friends or family I haven’t seen for a while, and usually have at least one sea swim and a couple of lovely nature walks along the way. I like changing up my routine a bit too! My least favourite elements are missing my husband and dog, and managing my type 1 diabetes, as that can be tricky on the road! One of my band-mates is also type 1 diabetic though, so we help each other out as much as we can.
If you could perform a concert on any planet in our solar system? Which one would you choose and why?
I think it would have to be Pluto for the sake of the album! Although sadly Pluto is now considered a ‘sub-planet’, but nevertheless it’s still a planet to me.
And finally Maja… is there intelligent life out there beyond Pluto?
I’m going to say yes as that is what I’d like to believe 🙂 but I have also been watching A LOT of Star Trek, so I’m possibly a little overly influenced by that..
Thank you for talking with us
My pleasure! Thanks so much again!
You can listen to Pluto here
NEW HEADLINE SHOWS FOR 2023
26 January Falmouth – The Cornish Bank
27 January Bristol – The Louisiana
28 January Southampton Heartbreakers
30 January Brighton – The Hope & Ruin
31 January Ramsgate Music Hall
1 February London – The Slaughtered Lamb
2 February Stroud – The Prince Albert
3 February Leeds Headrow House
4 February Newcastle Surf Cafe
5 February Edinburgh – The Voodoo Rooms
6 February Glasgow – The Hug & Pint
8 February Sheffield Sidney & Matilda
9 February Nottingham Bodega
Tickets for all above new headline dates on-sale HERE
@thebristolnomad / @bristolnomad_gigphotography
Role: Photographer / Reviewer / Interviewer
Chief, the one that bugs the team for team for their reviews and images. Creator and founder of The Bristol Gig Guide. Can usually be found swamped in admin or getting cramp kneeling at the front of a gig.
Available for: Gig Shoots, Gig Reviews, Photo Shoots, Album and Single cover shoots, Videography work, Interviews and Touring
First attended gig: Republica, circa 1996.
First gig shot: Hands Off Gretel, at The Louisiana!
Dream gig: Huge metalhead and my ultimate dream gig would be shooting my heroes Slipknot at a huge stadium gig, or as festival headliners. And to experience shooting a headline tour outside the UK
