26 | April 9, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

Not heard ofMarika Hackmanyet? You’re aboutto. ELLA WALKERinterrupts the“grunge folkster”while she’s doinga pre-tour clotheswash to find outwhy she’s beingbranded ‘one towatch’

Editor:Ella Walkeremail:ella.walker@cambridge-news.co.uk

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THE HEADLINER: MUSIC

the critical listThis week’s entertainment highlights

MarikaHackman

“I think it’s goodto be strange”

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Marika Hackman, The PortlandArms, Cambridge, Tuesday, April14 at 7.30pm. Tickets £8 fromwegottickets.com/greenmind/event/305267.

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | April 9, 2015 | 27

THE HEADLINER: MUSIC

‘ICAN’T seem to write a feel-good songhowever hard I try,” muses Marika Hackmanwryly.

The 23-year-old does seem to slide inexorablyin the other direction.

With a voice like flint, softly muted on thesurface, cut through by a glinting edge, theHampshire-born musician makes what she calls“abstract grunge folk”.

On the phone she’s light, funny and frank,while her lyrics read like melodic offcuts ofgraveyard poetry (“I’ve been weeping silent like awound/ Won’t you stitch me up, or let the bloodsoak through?”).

“I honestly don’t know and it’s scary that Idon’t,” she says on where her musical obsessionwith the gruesome comes from. “I’ve alwaysbeen drawn to it in everything, whether that’smusic or art or literature, I think I’m drawn to itbecause it affects me so much. I’m quite sensitivewhen it comes to violence, so when I’m trying tothink of metaphors to describe stuff in my lyrics,it seems natural to want to go with somethingthat is going to be the most engaging and hard-hitting, and for me that is violent imagery.”

However gothic and macabre the writingthough, shards of brightness do jut through. “Atface value the lyrics are quite dark,” Marikaadmits. “I think when they’re combined with themelodies and taken in the context of the song asa whole, they’re actually quite hopeful, there’sa lot of light in there, which you don’t see if youjust read them. When you hear them sung, Ithink they take on a whole different meaningthat’s got a lot more twists and turns.”

Encased by a tangle of hair which she ficklyswitches from green to pink to white blondeand back to fawn, and prone to shrugging intooutsized denim and checked shirts, Hackman’sbeen penning music and playing guitar sincethe age of 5. Completely self-taught (about fouryears ago her mother suggested she get singinglessons: “I was like no! Haha.”), even her recordcompany considers her voice “strange”.

“I think it’s good to be strange,” she says, notphased in the least. “I’ve been called weird sinceI was little by all my peers at school. You know, Idon’t mind being different, I think strange meansdifferent, and I think that’s a good thing.

“I guess my voice is a bit strange; it’s hard forme to know. I just sort of started singing at homebecause I was trying to write songs, and endedup just carrying on doing that.”

Fortunately some of the commercial nu-folkscene’s most talented artists took note. Schoolfriend Johnny Flynn helped engineer her firstrecord deal, while Laura Marling acted asmentor, pushing Hackman to overcome an earlyshyness by dragging her out to dinner before ashow and only getting her back in time to graba guitar and race on stage. Then there’s herpartnership with alt-J’s producer Charlie Andrewwho she made her record, We Slept At Last, with,and who introduced her to Cambridge singer-songwriter Sivu, aka James Page. “Charlie hadbeen telling me about him, and him about me,and then James had a track that he wanted meto sing on, and then I had a track I wanted himto sing on, and we started working together.”The pair, who both write songs that swim withatmospheric murkiness, eventually ended uptouring jointly – you might have caught them atThe Portland Arms.

When we speak, Marika’s just hanging out ather flat in London, “getting washing done, reallyboring stuff” in preparation for her first tour sincethe release of We Slept At Last.

This schlep around the country includes areturn visit to The Portland and will be a lonelierone than previously; no Sivu, and Marika’sdecided to play without a band for the first timein around a year. “They’re going to be quiteintimate shows and maybe quite intense,” shesays, explaining how she’ll be surrounded bya horde of different guitars onstage instead offellow musicians. Not that she finds performingentirely solo intimidating. “No, no, no, in a wayit’s almost less nerve-wracking because if I messup, which I inevitably do most nights,” she breaksoff with a self-deprecating laugh. “I can just stopand start again as I please; we’re not having topull the whole band to a grinding halt and pick itup where we left off.

“I’m just excited about really connectingwith audiences again,” she adds with genuine

“At face value the lyricsare quite dark. I thinkwhen they’re combinedwith the melodies andtaken in the context ofthe song as a whole,they’re actually quitehopeful, there’s a lot oflight in there, which youdon’t see if you just readthem”

28 | April 9, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

enthusiasm. We Slept At Last follows in thewake of a string of EPs and digital downloads:2013’s Free Covers, That Iron Taste and SugarBlind, and 2014’s Deaf Heat. However, it’s avery separate entity to these meshed siblings.

“I set myself the challenge of no songs fromEPs, so I had quite a long way to go,” saysMarika. “Achieving that in the first place was abig relief and I really showed myself what I’mcapable of, and then apart from that it was justtaking it into the studio and seeing what wouldhappen. I knew I wanted it to be a little bitmore stripped back, a little bit more organicsounding than maybe some of the stuff onDeaf Heat or Sugar Blind, but it was just a‘feel it as it goes along’ kinda vibe’.”

The result is a skein of songs that suckyou in and charm with their unstudiednuance and that underbelly of shiftingdarkness. You can also hear shimmers ofHackman’s strongest inspirations: TheShins, Warpaint, Beach House, “thenthere’s classical musicians as well likeHenry Purcell who was studying whenI was at school, his choral music was

very inspirational, as well as VaughanWilliams”.

Her musical talent oftengets sidelined though

thanks to theperfect

ingredientsfor a mediafrenzy:BedalesSchools,BurberryandCara

Delevingne. Hackman studied at the former,with the latter, and posed for the fashionhouse one time, for one eyewear shoot,and yeah, she is totally sick of being askedabout it.

“I definitely do mind that. It’s got to thepoint now where a lot of time has passed andit was such a tiny, tiny part of my career. In thattime I’ve basically released two albums worthof material and toured extensively across theUK and the world and people still want to talkabout one day of my life!” she laughs, tiredly,not brattishly. “It’s so frustrating.”

What isn’t quite so frustrating is the hypearound her being “one to watch”. “It’s acompliment and I really enjoy that, it’s reallynice that people are excited about [my music].”

So she doesn’t feel under pressure toperform; to live up to expectations? “It’s sillyto feel pressure from things like that becauseI just keep myself to myself and get on withwhatever I’m doing, rather than taking noteof what everyone’s saying; it’s a really riskygame. But if it’s nice things like ‘Oh yeah,she’s one to watch’, then I just think ‘Oh!That’s nice!’ Not ‘Oh my god, I’ve got todeliver’.”

It’s a sensible approach, but as our interviewdraws to a close, I ask Hackman to tell mesomething surprising about herself andsuddenly the gruesome imagery and Burberryangst dissolve into the best thing ever:

“Ohh, let me think. I have a scar on my lefteyebrow and the reason I have a scar there is Igot bitten by a pig.”

No way – you didn’t! (I splutter).“That’s genuinely true, I swear to god it’s

true,” she laughs, and with that, she goes backto her washing.

THE HEADLINER: MUSIC

“I have a scar on my lefteyebrow and the reason I have

a scar there is I got bitten bya pig. That’s genuinely true, I

swear to god it’s true”

Whatare you listening

to on repeat at themoment?

“That’s a tricky one. I’m reallybad at listening to music. I find

when I have got time off I just liketo be silent, although saying that Ihave a very talented friend who’sjust released her first track, she’scalled The Japanese House. I’ve

been listening to her stuffa lot. It’s really, really,

really good.”