don’t tell my child
In her third studio album, Mara captures the growing pains that come with her new identities: a mother learning to love, a child grieving a parent's death, an artist looking for peace. The deep poetry and keen melodic sense of the songs take the blank space of a five year gap between albums and fill in Mara’s story with an honest and relatable perspective on the tension inherent in change.
Accompanied by the Don’t Tell My Child Artbook.
listen on: Spotify | Bandcamp
naked prayers
“Right after the release of my first album, I fell into a dark place. I lost my sense of direction and for a few months, could barely move. I hadn’t experienced anything like that before in my life, so I had no tools, no understanding of how to recover, how to have life again. My world was a dark gray.
The one consolation I found during that period were the heavy and pained words of David in the book of Psalms. Inspired by his vulnerability and endless attempts to call out to his maker, I followed suit. Naked Prayers came out of these cries. In 2015, we raised $23k on Kickstarter for the project, with the book picked up by publishers in the US and UK. The project was featured on Huffpost, Christian Today, and other publications.”
listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music
mara
“I wrote these songs when I was 20/21 years old. Looking back now (10 years later), it’s easy to be embarrassed by my younger self. But this album came from the part of me that simply experienced life through song. Every story I heard, every difficult day I had, every strange conversation I was a part of — were a thread in the fabric of my work.
I will forever be thankful to Jamie Lawrence, who saw the passionate singer-songwriter in me while I was still in NYU (studying something else), and signed me to his label upon graduation. I loved every minute spent at his 26th Street studio and the patience and spirit of experimentation he brought to every session.
I hope you enjoy these tunes.”
listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music
turn me up
“There are a few Christmas songs that have a special place in my heart, so when my producer and collaborator Jamie Lawrence expressed interest in playing around with these songs, we came up with a short list and created our versions of these classics. The one original song and opening track of this EP is inspired by everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure: All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey (and is that still considered a guilty pleasure?)”