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One Woman Band - LIVE at Echotown Studios - VOL 1

Friday 30th September sees the release of a new single SPILL THE TEA for the Scottish born Australian singer songwriter Maryen Cairns, who has been based in Guernsey for the past 3 1/2 years.
When her old daughter hopped into the car after school and said "Spill the tea, sis!" Maryen firstly wondered what planet she was on, before having it explained that this was teenager language for "tell me all the gossip!". The phrase "spill the tea" flowed into Maryen's crazy brain, resulting in this new summery acoustic song… with, of course, a deeper meaning of the underlying unspoken currents in a relationship. Recorded in her Guernsey home studio, with her son Elvis Kernaghan (aged 17) playing guitar, Maryen then sent the song to her longtime friend and mentor, producer Chris Kimsey (Peter Frampton, INXS) in London, where he augmented the track with his locally living friend James Hallawell (Waterboys, Supergrass) and James’s son Luke, playing organ & drums respectively. Chris also sent the song through to Clare Kenny (Shakespears Sister, Indigo Girls) who added her bass vibe. A family & friends affair - perfect for Spill The Tea!
SPILL THE TEA is a single from her forthcoming album, ANEW, due 11 November 2022.

Spill The Tea

Voices From Scotland

The Devil's Fly

Twist

The Smuggler's Tale

Missing You is a song that has enjoyed being a live favourite, but this is it's debut release! 
Quiet & intimate, played on guitar with gentle fingerpicking & voice, it is the love story that never happened, the possible future that wasn't taken further, the deep regret of missing a lover who never was.

Missing You

Performed here solo, just piano & vocal, Lady Bushranger is the story of Jessie Hickman, arguably Australia's only female bushranger.
Originally recorded and released as part of the Femina Australis CD/Book in 2016.

One Woman Band, Live at Echotown Studios, Vol 1

Lady Bushranger

Kids from the 'burbs - I wrote this many years after the events, so it's me looking back at a story from my own life, where I watched a classic love story that was then destroyed by one of them descending into addiction. Recorded here live & solo using acoustic guitar & vocal, 20 years after I first recorded it, I feel the story in a much calmer way now, looking back over the years... and of course it's also the story of my own escape, of how I left in search of a different life, and how I can look back but I'll never know for sure what happened to those left behind.

Kids from the burbs

Kids From The 'Burbs

Give to the Chase is performed as a solo percussion & vocal piece… shamanic sound ringing in this song for our Mother Earth. Maryen is perched on a cajun with her feet utilising two pedals whilst wearing a rattle on one ankle, simultaneously playing a medicine drum & shaker whilst she sings.

Give to the Chase personifies Mother Earth herself, moving between singing as Mother Earth & singing as a member of the human race.
 
A story of generations working to save the environment and live within nature, knowing that human's race to survive, with only the fittest/strongest/smartest making it for the human race itself to survive. 

Originally released as part of Maryen's "Stories from the Red Tent" album, Give to the Chase was written whilst living in the SE Queensland rainforest with 4 small children.

Give to the chase

Give To The Chase

Flew Away

Give to The Chase is a song close to Maryen’s heart, as it was written while she was mothering her four young children while living in an off-the-grid yurt on a rainforest mountaintop in SE Queensland, Australia. 

At that time, Cairns’ decision to record the song at home alone marked the beginning of a transformative journey that led to the creation of both “Give To The Chase” and her 2012 album “Stories from the Red Tent.” The album is a conceptual exploration, where a group of women convene to share stories and forge connections within the sanctuary of The Red Tent. 

In the song, Maryen personifies Mother Earth, singing both as her and as herself. 

This is from Maryen's forthcoming album One Woman Band, Live at Echotown Studios, Vol 1 - released 3 May.

Give To The Chase (live)

March 8, 2024, Guernsey. Singer-songwriter Maryen Cairns has released her latest single “Flew Away.” This is the second single release from her upcoming album entitled “One Woman Band: Live At Echotown Studios Vol. 1.” 

Maryen’s folk roots are evident in this beautiful song, with vocals that truly stand out and an intricate acoustic guitar arrangement. The introspective lyrics explore meeting an elderly lady and not yet knowing anything about her, and coming to discover about a remarkable life.

The delivery in this track is exemplary of how powerful Cairns’ storytelling is. As we listen to her vocals soar alongside solo guitar, the listener can start to paint a vivid picture of this character; what she looks like, what she looked like in the past, and her life: 

“ “Flew Away” is a reminder that we cannot tell about a person just by looking at them, and this is particularly true about old people. Case in point - I met Joan Taubman as a very old lady, but it wasn’t until many years later that I found out she was one of Australia’s first female pilots, best known for flying aerobatics for the home crowds during WWII. An amazing woman!”

Performing as a one-woman band, Cairns has chosen to play "Flew Away" with just finger-picked guitar and vocals. Originally featuring a whistling solo by her close friend Paul Stockton when recorded with a band, she faced a dilemma— she can't whistle! 

However, the melody of the solo resonates deeply, so she decided to sing it instead. By substituting vocals for a whistling solo, Cairns has added a personal touch while staying true to the song’s essence. 

Despite this challenge, Cairns found a way to make the melody her own. The result is a beautiful, and totally original, song where passion shines through in every note. 

“Flew Away” is written by Maryen Cairns and Paul Stockton, performed by Maryen Cairns, and produced by Chris Kimsey. The song was recorded at Echotown Studios, Dorchester UK.

Flew Away (live)

At the end of Maryen's 2023 UK tour, she went into Echotown Studios with her mentor, legendary Rolling Stones producer Chirs Kimsey, and over the next 48 hours played 30 songs to a small audience whilst Chris captured the sound with an array of microphones. 9 songs have been cherry-picked for the first album (only available on vinyl until 3 May, when it will be fully released) and Kids From The 'Burbs is the first single from that album.

"Kids from the 'burbs is the true story of hanging out with my two best friends -  who were in love - over the winter in Sydney when I was 15, and then the disintegration of their relationship due to the descent into addiction of one of them. It’s also about my own quest in life for more and the helpless futility of looking back at the past wondering what happened to old friends, friends who were in terrible trouble when last seen.

I wrote the song over 10 years later. I was living alone for the first time in my life and writing songs with my first cup of coffee in the morning… so I  had the space to totally dive back into the past and remember how I felt at 15, and in this song I am back there with my friends, living in the moment. By telling the story, though, it’s obvious I’m older, I’m looking back at events and seeing them from a new perspective. I want people to remember that perspective changes, and also that we have a survival instinct that it is good to let kick in. As it is, “I left home, joined a band, caught a plane to a distant land, looking for another door”… and still, today, I don’t know what happened to my old friends, I only know what happened in my own life.

Deciding to play this on my 2023 tour felt so right… and  well, I’m there, I’m 15 again, and yet I’ve also escaped and life has brought me right to this point - singing about the past I emerged from, and solo, because we are alone in our memories, and so here I am: a one woman band.”

Kids From The 'Burbs (live)

For over 30 years, singer-songwriter Maryen Cairns’s allegorical folk-pop has offered a form of literate escapism for her worldwide fanbase. “I feel driven to create songs that people can disappear into. I want to pluck them away from reality so that they can lose themselves for a few minutes,” says the Guernsey-based artist. 

In turn, her singular musicality has taken Maryen on a fantastical journey of a music career. This has included releasing 7 critically-acclaimed solo albums; being produced and mentored by Rolling Stone's producer Chris Kimsey; a professional association with former Marillion lead singer Fish; and many other adventures. 

Today, the restless creative shows no signs of slowing down. She will be issuing a newly-recorded series of live albums that reimagine her classic recordings, beginning with One Woman Band, Live at Echotown Studios, Vol 1 which will be Maryen’s first vinyl release. 

Maryen is a solo artist, a multi-instrumentalist, a producer, and a storytelling songwriter with a flair for compelling narrative arcs, character development, and transporting imagery. Her work is both delicate and powerful, featuring her folksy guitar accompaniment, her crystalline piano playing, and her stunning vocals replete with a unique intonation and invigorating register swings.

Her latest era of creativity has been inspired by a 10-date, one-woman-show tour of the UK that took place in August of 2023. The concept initially blossomed from Maryen’s desire to connect with her audience during the pandemic. The story goes Maryen started a couple of initiatives during lockdown, including The Cairns Club, a series of emails with stories and pictures from Maryen’s musical life, and a popular livestream series. For these special streaming shows, fans wanted her to perform intimate, stripped down renditions of her classic repertoire, and Maryen began to experiment. “I am a believer that good songs can shine, presented just with voice, and simple accompaniment,” Maryen says. 

Right after the final date of her one woman tour, Maryen went into a nearby studio for two days with producer Chris Kimsey. There, in front of a small audience, Maryen performed 30 songs from her back catalog. Often, Maryen would sit on a cajón and pivot between a guitar and piano, and perform impressive one-woman band feats. Nine songs from these sessions have been cherry-picked for One Woman Band, Live at Echotown Studios, Vol 1.

This intimate music making has been the direct result of a self-growth evolution for Maryen which will continue to shape her artistic continuum. “When I was younger, people knew me deeply through my music, but I wasn’t as open to connecting as I am today,” she says. “The connection I now have with my audience has breathed new life into my music.”

Maryen Cairns

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