Maryen Cairns Flips a Switch with “ANEW”

Sometimes music can be transformative for both the listener and the one creating it. With Maryen Cairns, her seventh studio album, ANEW, caused a shift in her core song writing process that seemed to flow with ease like water down a stream. “It was like a switch clicked inside my head and suddenly I was creating music from a new perspective, writing sidewards, out of the corner of my eye” she says.

The album is aptly named as it marks a moment of change for Cairns that spurred from a move to the island of Guernsey (off the coast of Normandy). There is a shift from a drama-based approach to something introspective and moody, but with a sense of uplift that rests upon gentle guitars and piano. Unassertive percussion keeps the pulse moving along, but leaves plenty of space for the breathy vocals and harmonies to float on top if it.

There’s a folky spirit that runs through the albums core that feels more bare, vulnerable, and ready for experience something new. It’s easy to imagine yourself listening to this while laying in a hammock or floating down a river. There’s an undeniable flow that surrenders to the wind, allowing itself to go where it may. “This feels like the first music I’ve ever made…” Cairns says. “I’m unmasked as an artist. I’m naked. Here I am anew.”

ANEW is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Find “Change in the Weather” and more excellent music on the Alchemical Records Multigenere Mixture playlist on Spotify.