ANCHR's Artist of the Week: The Marías

As artists find new ways to express their vision and experiment with different sounds, it’s become less and less common for a musician or band to become pigeonholed by a single-defined genre. The Los Angeles-based project of María Zardoya, aptly called The Marías, recently released their lead single off their highly anticipated debut album and further proved the vast range of musical styles that they have in their wheelhouse. The track “Hush” showcases Zardoya’s velvety, jazz-infused vocals laid over a hypnotic electronic backbone, but their back catalog features hints of anything from psychedelia to funk.

For example, the song “Only in My Dreams” from the band’s 2017 EP Superclean, Vol.1 has an atmospheric, cinematic sound— which leads nicely into the title of their debut album to be released June 25th: Cinema. Zardoya and bandmate Josh Conway say that the record drew inspiration from classic films and directors that they grew up watching— a la Pedro Almodóvar and Wes Anderson. Even more fitting, Conway and Zardoya originally connected because of their love and appreciation for cinema. “Through a friend, [Josh and I] were connected to a music supervisor who would send us requests for music for films. We’d receive a synopsis of a scene, and then we’d have to write music to it within a couple of days. Not only did that teach us how to write songs together fairly quickly, it taught us how to think like filmmakers. We’d imagine worlds in our minds based on the synopses – the colors in the scene, the lighting, the actors, the set design, and of course, the music,” Zardoya says about her songwriting partnership.

I only had the pleasure of seeing The Marías perform live once, but I still remember the way Zardoya and her bandmates completely captivated the room (enough for the audience to demand an encore despite the fact they were opening the show). I’m hopeful we’ll see some tour announcements released soon so that we can all hear some of their newer music performed.

Pre-Order the upcoming album Cinema before its June 25th release date here, and check out the trail that Zardoya and Conway co-edited and directed here. Lastly, watch the visualizer for “Hush” below.