LA-based Maral made one of my favourite albums of 2020 in Push. It’s a thrilling slice of uncanny bombast, informed by punk, dub and classical Iranian music. Over the past few years she’s done two fascinating interviews with Truants, the blog to which I contribute (you can read them here and here) but this year was like no other, so she graciously answered some questions that I hope didn’t cover overly familiar ground.

How are you and how has 2020 been for you, in as many or as few words as you’d like?

I’m doing ok, getting ready to hibernate since I’m going to have some time off work soon :) 2020 was an intense year for me like everyone else. I had a lot planned for 2020 that I had spent many years working up to, that disappeared but I did get a chance to slow down and reflect more on how I interact with the world and what I can do better. I also feel like I wouldn’t have created the material I did for Push if I didn’t have that time to sit with my music making more. Before the shutdown, I didn’t have much time to work on music and would make these short songs but this album I was able to go back to tracks and see where they take me. 

I was reading back over your two interviews with Taylor for Truants — you mentioned that you wanted to put out an EP of the kind of "folk club" sound — this was in 2018, nearly three years ago. Since then you put out the Astral Plane tape and then of course, this year, your album Push. Have you achieved what you wanted to with this style or is this only the beginning? Not to be too cliched with those terms, but I hope you get me!

Yeah, I’m pretty happy with how the sound has evolved. I don’t think in 2018 I would have thought I would be making the album I did this year which is really exciting to me. I definitely think there’s more to explore within this realm – usually there is something I discover that guides me to the next sound. After Mahur Club, I kept imagining the Iranian folk vocal samples in my tracks as lead singers in a rock band, like the image would just pop up into my head and that’s what lead to the sound in Push. I’ve been getting more interested in collaborating with vocalist instead of sampling or singing myself – so maybe that will be where things go from here! 

The switch-up in the middle of ‘Dashti’ is one of my favourite "moments" of the year, the way the beat shifts and that distorted melody takes over. Does this kind of dramatic shift come from your history of improv do you think?

I think so, I always make my tracks by kind of just jamming out with myself and the samples and it’s like we are in a band together – so I’m always reacting to the samples and creating the track around what they feel like to me. For ‘Dashti’, that was the first track I made for the album and it opened up the door to the sound and this feeling of celebrating the fleeting moments of sound, when you are outside and you hear some music in the air and it combines with someone whistling inside their house and becomes this really cool piece of music that just exists for a second and is gone and in ‘Dashti’ I kept seeing this image of a vortex opening up and sucking in the sample and spitting them out as something new, so that part where it switches is when the vortex gets introduced. 

What was it like releasing an album at a time like this? 

It was pretty stressful haha. I really appreciate getting to work with Leaving Records on the release and them pressing it on vinyl, which is something I never thought I’d be able to do! I actually released so much music this year, Not including my album, I had 15 other tracks come out, mostly on awesome compilations and I did a couple of remixes I’m really stoked about. It’s the most music I’ve ever released in one year and it’s wild to have had it all happen during this time period but I really appreciate getting to put out tunes and also I’ve loved so much music that’s come out this year and it’s helped me get through the year. 

How did you end up with Leaving? 

I found out about Leaving Records thru their outdoor park shows in Highland Park. It sounded like my dream event series, since I always get so tired at night and rather be out during the day in nature. So I DMed MatthewDavid, the founder of Leaving Records and curator of the park series my music and asked if it was possible to play the park one day. I fell deep into their catalogue and really loved everything they’ve released. After Mahur Club came out, MD hit me up and asked me if I’d be interested in releasing something with Leaving Records and I was so stoked and started working on material for it and it spurred me to want to make a cohesive full album and it was really fun to create that world for Leaving Records.  

This time last year you were talking about a film residency at Echo Park Film Center, how has that gone or how did it go?  

I actually haven’t had a chance to finish the film yet, it was supposed to be on the Los Angeles underground music community and highlight all the people putting in the hard work that it takes to keep an underground community nourished and growing. With the shutdown happening it changed everything, and I decided to have it more focused on sound in Los Angeles, and the interplay between city and nature that exists here. The Echo Park Film Center has been so understanding through all this and a really great resource for anyone interested in filmmaking.

You've been in LA for the best part of a decade and you've spoken about what you like and dislike about it, particularly the kind of spaces available to musicians like yourself. Even in a year, has anything changed? 

In terms of space that’s available for underground or experimental music – that has changed completely. We lost physical spaces that were important to the growth of the scene, but we are lucky that a lot of people are stepping up and trying to figure out ways to help each other out. Places like Coaxial and Fem Synth Lab are great examples, please support them if you are able too! I think in general the world is a harsh place for underground, not mainstream music and once things open back up again, I’m afraid the landscape might be even harsher, especially in a city like LA. 

This has been quite a year, so I suppose even asking that question is a bit silly.  Looking back, were you able to celebrate Nowruz? I believe traditionally there are a lot of visits to family and friends, was that possible? 

I really love all the Iranian holidays and they all coincide with the seasonal equinoxes and solstices. I did celebrate at home with Diana, we made the traditional Persian new year table and I did the countdown with my parents over facetime haha. There’s another holiday coming up this week called Shab-e-Yalda, which I’m looking forward to celebrating, it’s on the winter solstice, which is the longest night of the year, and you’re supposed to stay up all night telling stories, reading poetry and eating pomegranate seeds and dried nuts to keep the bad spirits away. 

You work in the industry, we've seen a lot of talk about the negative aspects inherent across the board but have you seen anything that gives you reason to be cheerful about the future? 

Yeah, I think particularly at the label I work at, there has been true action that combats those pervading negative parts of working in the music industry. I fall into deep despair about the music industry every week but I also see so many people fighting to make it a better and fighting to get resources and opportunities to marginalised communities especially since so much of the music industry is based in who you know or how much money you can invest in something. I think Bandcamp is such an awesome ecosystem and somewhere where it finally feels like the underground can breath and grow without being weighed down by mainstream standards and norms that stifle creativity. 

Maral on Linktree