As we repeatedly stressed how thrilled we are about MARIKA HACKMAN‘s debut record We Slept At Last, we definitely owe you a bit of background information on this talented young lady. Always a good way to do that is by letting the music do the speaking. In this case: carefully selected videos in one of our confronting-sessions. Read on and learn about MARIKA HACKMAN‘s creative family, medieval sounds and the joy of covering.
01. The Antlers – ‘Epilogue’
You just toured with these gentlemen. How was it? Any favourite tune?
Touring with these guys was fun, but a lot of driving. Me and my cousin we’re just driving my little car around, and some of the drives were 8 hours long. My favourite song of theirs is Hotel, I think it was the third song into their set, and I remember the first night watching them play and me and my cousin turning to each other like ‘ooooh yeahhhh’. That trumpet part is awesome as well. I think I had this song stuck in my head for about three weeks solid, and it was really embarrassing because I kept humming it in front of the band.
02. Alise Joste – ‘The River’
A talented young lady from Latvia. Just a voice, a guitar and lovely songs. Do you see parallels?
It’s always refreshing to see someone stripping back a song to just guitar and vocal, it’s intimate and raw. I think that this song is more pretty than the stuff I write, but she’s still got a darkness in there which I, of course, find appealing.
03. Marika Hackman – ‘Bath Is Black’ (Hackman Remix)
Damn it. I wanted to ask you whether this guy is related to you and now it looks like he’s your brother and he even remixed you already. How’s your musical relationship besides that?
Haha, yes he is my brother. He’s remixed a couple of my songs before, but we’ve both talked about doing something more collaborative in the future. Right now is a busy time for us both as we have records coming out this year, but I would definitely like to work with him at some point. His remixes always make me jealous as well, because I always think they sound better than the original.
04. Unknown – ‘Miri it is while sumer ilast’
Is it true that you are a fan of medieval sounds?
I love medieval sounds, and I love experimenting with them in my music. I find that the use of open 4ths and 5ths creates harmony which allows the melodic line to shift the key incredibly easily. This particular song has got that melancholic feeling that I love.
05. Pink Floyd – ‘The Endless River EPK’
First album in twenty years. With old material. Does the world really need this?
I don’t know if the world really ‘needs’ anything when it comes to music, but I feel like once you’ve been around the block and established yourself as innovators, like PINK FLOYD, you pretty much have free rein to do whatever you want. It could be a very interesting record, it will be interesting to hear it either way.
06. Marika Hackman – ’81 (JOANNA NEWSOM Cover)
You covered a lot in the past. Any cover you tried out and realized you are not able of delivering a solid rework? Any track you’d like to cover in the future?
The original of this song is one of my all time favourites. I read recently that JOANNA NEWSOM is making another album, so I’m pretty thrilled about that. I don’t really give up on things, and I always pick songs to cover which I love, so once I’ve made my mind up I will do everything to make it work. So I am yet to come across a cover which I can’t rework. I have so many songs I’d love to cover in the future but I’m going to keep my cards close to my chest and not reveal all.
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