Introducing Interview: Maria Kelly

Having just released her debut EP, Irish singer-songwriter Maria Kelly creates beautifully raw, twinkling folk creations. And, having toured with the likes of James Vincent McMorrow and Orla Gartland, and set to play 2000 Trees festival this summer, things are looking bright for Kelly.

We caught up with her to find out more…

Hi Maria! Welcome to Gigslutz, how are you today?
Hello! Pretty good, thank you. Hope you are too!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m 22, from Mayo in the West of Ireland and I write indie-folk music.

What’s the story behind your debut EP The Things I Should?
The EP explores my own difficulties with self-expression. I’ve always been pretty terrible at accurately expressing how I think or feel about certain things and it’s caused me a lot of problems in the past. The four songs on this EP deal with different experiences and the complications and consequences attached to them.

Is there a particular track you’re most proud of from the EP?
I do really love ‘Torn Into Two’. I had been trying to write about a particular experience but I was finding it really difficult to articulate what I wanted to say. In the end, the song sort of wrote itself in this entirely different direction, which was interesting. I’m really proud of it because it’s a very literal and honest description of the experience behind the song.

Who would you say are your top 3 favourite folk artists?
At the minute, I’m listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell again. And my favourite new discoveries are Billie Marten and Ailbhe Reddy.

Can you describe your sound in 3 words?
Atmospheric-indie-folk.

And, what’s the next step for Maria Kelly?
Right now, I’m just trying to write as much as I can. In the last year, I’ve had a creative jolt that I haven’t felt in a while and I’m excited to see where it takes me. I’m doing a few shows over the summer, the next one being at 2000 Trees on July 7th. Other than that, I’m just focusing on creating the next project, whatever that might be.

Huge thanks to Maria for answering our questions!

The Things I Should, the new EP from Maria Kelly, is out now via Veta Records.