Heather Maloney has made huge strides since signing a record deal with Northampton’s Signature Sounds in 2012, becoming a national name on the acoustic music circuit and winning praise for her thoughtful, introspective songs and crystalline vocals.
The Northampton singer-songwriter once lived in a silent meditation center, and that experience seems to have lent a particular eloquence to her songs, inspiration for which comes from many places, she says: “It could be discovering a family dynamic that has shaped me, pondering the long-term psychological effects of the internet age on our collective psyches, losing a loved one, surviving the current political landscape, falling in love, listening to a thunderstorm, meditating through my own anxiety.”
Hampshire Life: Talk about the work you’re currently doing. What does it involve, and what are you trying to achieve?
Heather Maloney: Broadly speaking, I’m touring behind my newest album, the EP “Just Enough Sun.” That involves introducing the material to an audience in ways that they connect to the songs, in ways not necessarily possible with a recorded track.
For example, there’s a song on the album called “Albert 1-5.” While some space nerds might know right away that I’m referring to the chimpanzees we sent to space before we sent people, others might take a few listens to get the whole story.
So when I intro the song, I’ll describe how we took these chimps, named them Albert, tried shooting them into space and killed almost all of them in the process. Albert number 6 was the first one to make it back from space. I’ll tell the audience I thought Albert 1-5 deserved a tribute, and launch into the song. Telling a bit more of this story adds a dimension to the song that I love and makes playing it feel alive and inspired.
HL: What do you draw inspiration from? Do you ever have any “Eureka!” moments?
HM: It’s hard to pinpoint where I draw inspiration from because sometimes I even surprise myself by the things that make me want to make songs out of them (space monkeys?) … but I think my muse’s general rule-of-thumb is that it’s got to be something mysterious, confusing or compelling enough to make me want to spend more time observing it.
HL: How do you know when your work is finished?
HM: With songwriting, my sense of being “finished” generally comes when I can play the song front to back without tripping up or getting bored with it. If I’m emotionally engaged with the song for every lyric, and there aren’t any parts that I’m having trouble executing, I generally feel that it’s “done” enough to debut in a live show.
But songs are also alive and always in motion. They change a little every night, depending on my mood, the weather, the energy I’m getting from the audience, etc. They feel like little extensions of myself, and they almost never feel truly finished because I’ve never felt truly finished. I’m a forever student.
HL: Dream dinner party: Who would you invite?
HM: I’m currently watching the new “Queer Eye,” so the first people that come to mind are all five hosts of that show (in my head we are already friends), Anthony Bourdain, Joni Mitchell (I have so many questions), Michelle Obama (we’re friends in my head, too), Rainer Maria Rilke, Ira Glass and Tina Fey.
HL: What’s your go-to snack while you’re working?
HM: Wine. But it’s hard to eat and play/sing, so it’s usually not an option. Currently eating cheesy puffs on this flight, and it’s getting all over my keyboard, but honestly it’s worth it.
HL: What do you do when you’re stuck?
HM: I’m yet another artist who’s got the book “The Artist’s Way” (Julia Cameron) by my bedside. She’s got a lot of wisdom in there for getting un-stuck, but my go-to is what she calls the “morning pages”: stream-of-conscious journaling that just clears out the mental cobwebs enough for me to tap back into inspiration again.
— Steve Pfarrer