Now based in the UK, Envy Of None vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Maiah Wynne has a brand-new single out with ‘See The Water’, ahead of her album Into The Waves, set for release on 25th September through Kscope.
“I wrote ‘See The Water’ in a handful of minutes when I was 16,” revealed Wynne. “I had just been gifted a dulcimer and found my hands quickly dancing around a folky melody in D minor. What came out was the manifestation of my inner critic. That voice inside my head that always told me I wasn’t enough, no matter how hard I tried.
“I decided to create a character out of her to represent the feeling of being hunted and haunted by that voice everywhere I went. The imagery of water and drowning in those feelings kept coming up and, in a moment of quick inspiration, the song came out fully formed and has only changed slightly in the years since. It’s nice to finally have a studio version of it out in the world, close to how I always pictured it in my head.”
Written, self-produced and largely recorded by Wynne during an exceptionally transformative period in her life, Into The Waves was created between her first international tour, a move across the world, returning to education, and building a new life after years of isolation. Many of the recordings were captured on the road in hotel rooms using nothing more than a laptop, with Wynne playing more than a dozen instruments across the album. The project was completed with mixing and additional production from Justin Abel (Noelle Johnson, The Talbott Brothers) before being mastered by Alan Douches (Sufjan Stevens, Motörhead, LCD Soundsystem).
Into The Waves also features an impressive cast of collaborators, including cellist Bethany Joyce, violinist Avelyn Reynolds, guitarist Brooks Berg, drummers Adam Brzycki and Randy Cooke, flugelhorn player Henry Sheppard, and Rush legend Alex Lifeson, whose guest guitar appearance further strengthens the connection between Wynne‘s solo work and her role as vocalist with Envy Of None.
The full track listing is ‘Nothing Stays The Same’, ‘Satellites’, ‘In A Dream’, ‘Creatures In The Night’, ‘False Gods’, ‘Another Step’ (featuring Dan Avidan), ‘See The Water’, ‘Underwater’, ‘Don’t Want To Say Goodbye’, ‘Breathe’, ‘Don’t Wait’ and ‘Girl Dinner’.
‘Breathe’ from the album was Wynne‘s first single release, and she said of it: “I wrote this song in a moment of overwhelm. Music has always been a calming presence in my life and has helped guide me through some of the most difficult moments. I remember sitting down with a guitar on the verge of a panic attack, and playing harmonics and reaching an almost meditative state while writing this track.
“It’s all about breathing through and working through anxiety. I wanted the music to find a balance between that storm of energy and the release of a calming breath.”
The ‘Breathe’ video was filmed in Ladakh, India, by Noah Koski and edited by Maiah Wynne.
