Maria BC Talks Process and Progress

Photo by Senny Mau

For Maria BC, music is a way of tracing something intangible – something felt before it’s fully understood. Raised in Ohio and now based in Oakland, their work moves between the discipline of classical training and a more instinctive, searching approach to songwriting, where voice, texture, and feeling are in constant negotiation.

Their 2022 debut Hyaline introduced a world that felt both fragile and intense, earning early recognition and drawing listeners into its late-night emotional terrain. Since then, Maria BC has continued to refine that language, signing to Sacred Bones Records and expanding their sonic palette while holding onto a strong sense of intimacy and control.

On their new album Marathon, that tension deepens. Written in a period defined by movement, work, and emotional upheaval, the record circles around a single, persistent idea: energy. Not just as momentum, but as something contested ... something stretched between personal desire and the wider forces shaping the world. The songs move through endurance and resistance, but also through a quieter urge to disrupt, to break from simply carrying on.

Elsewhere, their work continues to find unexpected contexts, including “Taper,” a track that found a natural home within I Saw the TV Glow, echoing the film’s emotional landscape without needing to be reshaped.

We spoke to Maria BC about early influences, the push and pull of energy in their new record, and what it means to hold tension both in music and in the room.

You were trained as a mezzo-soprano growing up and had a musical influence from your father and through church. How did those early experiences shape the way you approach singing and songwriting now?

I’d say the through-line for those three things - the fact that I grew up performing in church, took voice lessons, and have a father who is a musician - is that they all taught me to value a traditional approach to singing. I was taught that the voice should be tamed and refined in pursuit of a kind of transcendent, free sound, like a ringing bell, pure and effortless, the kind of sound that invites a vicarious feeling. I like to play around with that now by shifting between more airy, weightless singing and the kind of singing that tires you out.

For someone hearing your music for the first time, how would you describe what you’re trying to create?

I don’t know… I think I make music that’s subtle but high stakes, or desperate. A lot of it suggests a 4am state of mind.

Photo by Senny Mau

Your debut album Hyaline was met with immediate attention, including recognition from Pitchfork. How did that early reception affect your confidence or expectations going forward?

The positive feedback definitely boosted my confidence. It felt amazing to see that there were people out there I didn’t know who were connecting with my music, forming opinions about it, writing about it.

You’ve since signed with Sacred Bones Records. What has that relationship allowed you to explore or develop in your music?

I feel lucky to work with them, it’s an ideal fit and they’ve been kind to me. Having that kind of support means I feel emboldened to take my work very seriously.

Your new album Marathon centres on themes of endurance and survival. What did those themes mean to you personally while you were writing it?

“Energy” was the word on my mind at the time. Personally, I was coming out of a high-energy phase, I had just fallen in love in a big way, and I was working a lot, keeping the plates spinning. At the same time I was metabolising all this stuff that’s less personal, namely the horrors of our world and our moment, all that is sacrificed to imperial power and capital. So “energy” was on the mind. How everyone wants more of it. I was seeing this battle for energy everywhere, in everything, and it made me long for rupture, for disruption. So the album is about endurance but it’s also about tapping into the desire to do more than just endure, which entails grappling with our romantic attachments to the world as it is.

You contributed “Taper” to I Saw The TV Glow – what was that experience like and did working in that context feel different to your usual process?

I actually wrote the song shortly before Jane reached out to me, and once they sent me the script, I was struck by all these resonances between what they’d written and what I’d written. There were all these overlapping images and ideas in the lyrics and in the film, but it was subtler than it might have been if I’d tried to write a song with that kind of intention, so I took a chance and sent it to them, and they liked it, and that was it. I was anticipating a few rounds of edits or something, since Jane had a very specific vision for the soundtrack. They wanted to hail a particular cultural moment, the music that held them as a teenager. They name dropped Carissa’s Wierd and Cocteau Twins, I think. I guess we’re drawing from the same legacy because I didn’t feel like I had to venture out of my wheelhouse to capture what they were going for.

Photo by Senny Mau

You’ve mentioned spending less time on production and more on songwriting for this record. How did that shift change the way the songs came together?

I spent a lot of time editing and refining the lyrics. It was kind of agonising because I always want to put infinity into everything, but this time I intended to focus each song around maximum one coherent idea. Clarity was the goal. It doesn’t come naturally to me, so I’m proud of myself for taking on that challenge, but I’m not sure I’ll do it again, honestly.

With touring coming up across the US this August, how are you feeling about bringing these songs into a live setting, and what do you hope people take away from the shows?

I’ve loved playing the new songs live so far, and I can’t wait to do it again. The best I can hope for is that the audience is down to go there with me, emotionally speaking, to build the tension. Then my job is to preserve that tension at all costs. Performing is a very delicate thing. People’s time and attention is precious. I just hope someone in the audience goes home feeling like they stood outside of time for a moment.

Listen to Maria BC on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Music and keep up with them on Instagram.