We have the fortunate opportunity to expand Music Monday with a special in-person interview for this week’s featured artist: Marina La Gran.
Her debut EP, Builders & Horrors, was released at the beginning of February and the album is already carrying quite a bit of momentum in its early stages. Collaborating with a couple of industry heavy-hitters, Matt Green and Pete Lyman, La Gran has produced an album that covers a range of emotion and story-telling that we can all relate to.
After reaching out for more details on this project, I was invited to visit Marina and her husband Jon Darling, a successful musician in his own right, for a quick chat about the album and life in general.
Several years back, the pair left the hustle and bustle of southern California to find themselves in the quiet Tennessee countryside. Here, they are able to focus not only on music, but also on a homestead lifestyle, raising their young family, and supporting the local community.
Read about this album and more in our interview with Marina and Jon below. Then, check out Builders & Horrors on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon or YouTube! You can also follow @marinalagranmusic on Instagram for more on her musical updates.
SoBros: So, you’ve got this freshly released EP. Can you give it a quick overview for us?
Marina: Yeah, this was a little project created by myself and our friend, Matt Green, then Pete Lyman mastered it for us. We recorded everything about six or seven years ago and all of the songs were written even earlier than that. Some were written as far back as ten years ago. I sat on these recordings for a really long time because of my own internal, artistic conflict (laughs). Then, I decided to finally release them and it feels really good now.
SoBros: With song titles like Loose Ties and Builders & Horrors, it appears there’s a common underlying theme. Was there any particular situation or events that inspired you to write these?
Marina: This was all written during an interesting part of my life as I was being called away from everything I grew up around and wanted to seek out something different. Then the calling changed to ‘Hey, do you wanna move to Tennessee?’, so I decided to move to Tennessee. I was in the same place for 24 years and it just began to feel like I was in the Matrix. Basically, I was so shelled in and had a feeling my calling was way elsewhere. In this album, and not necessarily in the order they occurred, there was a lot of different things happening that inspired the recordings. A lot of them were made over the span of about four years, but Loose Ties really represents everything about the record and it was the first one I did. Plus that’s the one that I think sounds the best.
SoBros: So far, my favorite two songs from the album are Outlawz and When I Come Home. Outlawz definitely stands out with a completely different style, though. What’s the story behind that?
Marina: They’re two of the most honest songs that I ever wrote, and they’re two of the most unintentionally hooky songs as well. When I sent Outlawz to Matt, it was all on guitar and he was like ‘What the hell is that?’ (Laughs). I feel like it’s a spaghetti-western-y kind of story and we just went from there. He has this amazing friend, Chelsea Greenwood, and she did the whistle for us. That’s what everyone asks about. The whistle is amazing. She was so wonderful for coming into the studio that night and recording, that’s by far my favorite part on Outlawz. [The song] is a third person story, not about me in any way, and not about anyone I know. It’s just a story about an outlaw set in today’s time, and I always saw the story through the lens of a security camera following the character around. That’s definitely the most favorited song from the feedback so far.
SoBros: I really like the simplicity of the album cover. What’s up with this photo, any particular meaning behind that and who did it come from?
Marina: That’s actually a random picture I took one night as a cool-looking storm was rolling in. So, when I was trying to come up with a photo to use for the cover and how it would relate to the album, that one resonated with me because of the ominous subtext. There’s all these clouds and a thunderstorm rolling in, but it’s almost calm and pleasant at the same time.
SoBros: You mentioned the personal conflict you experienced with deciding to pull the trigger on the album or not. Is that from you being too critical of your own music writing in general, or just really wanting this project to be as good as possible?
Marina: Yeah, it bothered me in a way honestly. You’re the biggest asshole to your own art, especially if it’s good. If you like it, then go back…GO BACK. And it’s difficult to articulate, because it’s hard to tell people that you don’t have to rush. Maybe I wasn’t even ready for it before I realized there’s so many other things that are more important in life. What ‘art means’ and all of these other qualms that I had with music and the modern day ‘what it means to be popular’ just kind of turned it around for me and I said “Well, I don’t have to do all that. I can just release music.” So, I just put the songs out. My friends ask about them, I think the songs are cool, but I’m not bothered by all the other things that go along with the modern trends. I just like to record music and put it out.
Jon: One thing I’d like to say about her writing music, is that we have access to a really decent recording studio, but she doesn’t feel the need to use that stuff. She’d rather sit in here with Voice Memo. She has an idea, she grabs her auto-harp or her guitar, and she just sits here and records a song…then she just goes back to whatever else she was doing.
Marina: Yeah, I already have my next record (laughs). I have like ten songs that are ready to get reverted. There have been so many songs now, I get to cherry-pick my favorite ones and go from there. There was one afternoon, everybody else was out riding dirt bikes, and I was inside writing this whole punk thing. I was playing drums and did everything except for the bass, which Jon played for me [later]. It was so much fun for me…but then I didn’t save the session! So it was lost forever, but it also makes it that much more wonderful. It was like lightning striking.
SoBros: Will we see more of this husband and wife duo on more songs in the future?
Marina: Well yeah, we’ll have to. [Jon] is my favorite guitar player in the whole world, and we get to make some cool jams together.
Jon: Marina is a creative force, she is a creative gift to the world. Even the stuff I write for myself, I always show everything to her and ask her for feedback. I’ll go back and change things, and I’ll be mad at her for wanting to change it. But I still listen to her, and I still do it because she’s a taste-maker.
Marina: (laughs) Thank you, Honey. That’s the best compliment ever.
Jon: Marina’s the spark, and I will tend the creative fire all night. (laughs)
SoBros: You have an album out now, and you’ve got more recordings to work on. Are there any other specific goals or interests you’re currently pursuing?
Marina: I do have some goals, and that is to help people recognize more of their own potential within their own community and not say “We have to go to L.A. or we have to go to New York.” No, gather the people you have around you. You probably have more than enough qualified and talented people in your vicinity that are wanting and willing to do this stuff. Make art where you are.
I think that I have to keep putting it out, I will always make music. That is not even up to me. When I was pregnant, I was always at the piano. I’ll record something random on Voice Memo and know that no one will ever hear it, but I just do it. One day I’ll die and there will be 148 unheard songs on my Voice Memo (laughs).
Ultimately, you have much more impact over the things you directly effect, like a toddler music class I’ve started teaching. Whatever it is, just getting people involved it helps spread happiness or giving, and it makes it better hopefully.
For the Music Monday archives, click here.
Cadbury Pringlebatch is the Lead Motorcycle Expert, Investment Analyst, and Travel Blogger for The SoBros Network, but knows a little bit about everything. Known for frequenting Nashville YMCA steam rooms, he’s a firm believer that winning football is produced by moving the chains, and became a SoBro after mistaking one of our podcasts for an AA meeting. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroCadbury
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