Mary in the Junkyard - 'Tuesday'
Alternative scene newcomers mary in the junkyard have released their much anticipated first single, ‘Tuesday’, via AMF Records.
The band, composed of guitarist and vocalist Clari Freeman-Taylor, bassist and viola player Saya Barbaglia and drummer David Addison, have over 50 shows under their belt – including nearly 20 appearances at their spiritual home Brixton Windmill. Through their consistently electric performances the band have built a name for themselves as the must-see band on the live circuit.
On ‘Tuesday’, mary in the junkyard manage to bottle and distill the energy they exude on stage. The track opens with a genteel bassline and Freeman-Tayor’s eerie vocals whispering “I feel like an alien here / breathing from a separate hole”. The unearthliness of the sound lends itself well to the sense of insecurity and otherness that Freeman-Taylor explores in her verse.
Speaking on the track, she explains: “I wrote ‘Tuesday’ when I was first experiencing life in a city and was feeling very small. It’s so easy to be swept along with the bustle and noise and feel like a worker ant amidst thousands of others. I wanted to write about my yearning for chaos and realness - we all have wildness within us that we might be suppressing and we shouldn't feel like aliens because of it.”
mary and the junkyard keep their audiences on their toes. In their live shows, they lead the crowd from headbanging riffs to ethereal swaying across their repertoire. Impressively, they’ve managed to translate this vividness into their recorded music. In ‘Tuesday’, the beguiling beginning suddenly warps and drummer David Addison crashes into action, providing a thudding beat to propel the song into deeper waters. Barbaglia’s bassline follows suit, turning gravelly and dark. Meanwhile Freeman-Taylor's haunting vocals shift stylistically, leaning more towards rasping spoken-word.
mary in the junkyard have total synergy. Throughout ‘Tuesday’, the bandmates work in balance; never overpowering one another. Even in their live shows, gossamer vocals trail around growling bass lines and thundering drums. Their cohesion as a band is just as evident on this recorded track as it is on the stage.
‘Tuesday’ is accompanied by a wonderfully weird video directed by the band themselves. The concept, taken directly from Freeman-Taylor’s cover art for ‘Tuesday’, sees the band and a Yeti traipsing across London. The hardcut editing and DIY nature of the footage perfectly match mary in the junkyard’s homegrown spark.
Over the summer, mary in the junkyard performed across a multitude of alternative festivals in 2023, including Green Man, Wide Awake and most recently End of the Road. And, their first headline show at Brixton Windmill was a total sell out. Extremely impressive for a band that hadn’t released a single song until this week.
Now as the band venture into the world of recorded music, they seem set to continue their rapid ascent. It almost goes without saying that this should be a band to place at the top of any Ones to Watch list.
Alongside ‘Tuesday’’s release and video, the band have announced their next headline show will be at Corsica Studios on 27th March 2024.
Words by Ella McLaren
