I absolutely adore your latest single, “Signal”. What can you tell me about it?
Thank you so much!!! Well, I wrote it around a year ago, and I really spent a lot of time thinking about the production and arrangement. I wanted it to sound like I had heard it in my head: ambient and airy, with plenty of floatiness and enough space for the lyrics to shine through. I tried to match the message of the song to the instrumentation—someone sending out a signal not knowing if the other person’s listening. There’s lots of reverb, gradual fading in effects, and ambient undertones.
I also feel like I really played around with the lyrics on this song. I’m a big fan of experimenting with internal rhyme, so the line: “I’ve been stuck in the middle of indifference / and a part of my heart is still marked by your imprints” really stood out to me. I love the way the lyrics echo each other without being an exact rhyme. It creates this little thread between lines that, to me, helps pull the whole song together.
What do you enjoy most about performing live on stage?
My favorite part about being onstage is definitely feeling connected to my audience! When I go to watch live music, I always feel so strongly present and immersed in the moment whenever the performers are good at creating atmosphere. In my own performances, I really try to emulate that, and I love sharing little pieces of backstory in between songs! I’d rather the shows feel like a dynamic conversation, and I think the exchange of energy between myself as a performer and people in the crowd is so important.
You were able to attend the Berklee summer program. What was that experience like for you?
It was honestly one of the best weeks of my life! I got the opportunity to become friends with and make music with so many incredibly talented people from all over the country. On one of the first nights, I ran into two other girls in the practice rooms (shoutout @cate_re_music and @willashamie !!!) and we sat down to write a song that still gets stuck in my head to this day. I think you can learn a lot about someone through making music with them, there’s this deep connection that comes with feeling safe enough to be able to tap into your imagination.
The feeling of being immersed in such creative energy really pushed me to grow as a musician and tap into my own creativity, and I felt really at home being surrounded by people who are just as on fire about music as I am.
I was also in a band! Any little sliver of free time we could find, we grabbed our instruments and set out for Newbury Street to busk. If you asked me to describe what kind of music we played, the only category I would be able to pin down is “music played from the heart”. From ska versions of Nirvana, to classic Grateful Dead jams, to DIY kazoo solos over folk standards, these guys really expanded my repertoire.
The whole experience reminded me that music is about connection more than perfection. We weren’t there for the polished presentation of it all, we just wanted to jam. In the beginning, we were so eager for the music that, when Guitar Center said they didn’t rent box drums, one of my bandmates and I jogged two miles across town to get some trash cans from Target we could bang on. That’s one of my favorite memories of my time there, for sure.
Who or what are your biggest musical inspirations?
Growing up, my parents were always big fans of the Grateful Dead, and I think being surrounded by their songs from a very young age taught me to have a more improvisational and flowy approach to music.
I would say I’m less interested in labeling myself with a specific genre, but I definitely draw lots of inspiration from country music and staple singer-songwriters (Jason Isbell and Joni Mitchell are favorites!)
However, lately, I’ve been trying to lean more into a new sound. I take a lot of inspiration from wide open desert landscapes and I’m really fascinated with writing about the American West. I think my music carries a lot of motifs of exploration, adventure, and discovery, which are also really popular throughout America’s and my home state of California’s history.
There’s more western-style stuff from me on the horizon, but here are some of my biggest inspirations for my upcoming work:
Album: Communiqué by Dire Straits
Book: Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
Song: Astrovan by Mt. Joy
Movie: Asteroid City
Bonus: The view out the plane window over the Nevada plains
If you could cover any Disney song, which one would you choose? Why?
I’ve been thinking about doing one for a long time, actually! One that really stands out to me is “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas; my grandmother and I used to sing it together when I was little, and to this day it’s still one of her favorites, so it holds a lot of really special memories for me.
I’m also totally on board with its message of choosing to cherish our relationship with the natural world instead of having a one-sided, exploitative view of it. A cover of the song itself would be really on brand for me: like I said before, I love incorporating images of nature into my writing and taking inspiration from landscapes.
Being from Northern California, I feel really blessed to have grown up surrounded by forests, mountains, and beaches. Those landscapes have always been a huge part of my life, and I think they naturally find their way into my music. There’s something about that much open space that really makes you notice the little things, every movement and subtle sound, not to mention it’s great for creativity! When I have some time on my hands, one of my favorite creative rituals is to drive up a little while into the Santa Cruz Mountains, find a nice quiet bench or picnic table, and just spill out all my thoughts into my songwriting journal!
What are your immediate musical goals?
Something I’d really like to carry with me into the rest of the year is the collaborative mindset that Berklee gifted me. I’d love to see what kind of music there is to create if I work with a whole bunch of different people (especially those whose musical backgrounds are completely different from mine) to combine our ideas.
I’d also love to keep the momentum of recording and publishing new releases!!
Again, right now I’ve got something in the works, so stay tuned…
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I will absolutely be staying tuned!
As always, I want to thank Maia for visiting with us, and for sending along the pictures to accompany the interview.
I'm sure you’ll all want to follow her and see what she has going on. Here are the best places to find her:
Thanks again Maia, and good luck reaching your goals!
