Maud the Moth was founded in 2010, as the solo project of Amaya López-Carromero, a Madrid born pianist, singer, and songwriter who spent most of her childhood and teenage years studying classical music, writing stories and recording music demos on the family twin cassette deck. Naturally evolving from what has been a life-long motivation, Maud the moth serves as Amaya’s personal alter ego; a conduit for her personal life experiences, and draws on a wide-ranging musical background, including traditional folk, jazz, classical, avant-garde and rock. These disparate influences are carefully woven into a rich, coherent and heartfelt musical tapestry with an eclectic and unique personality, which has led Maud the moth to the participation in a wide number of festivals (Heineken Jazzaldia, Noroeste, Celtic connections, Glasgow International Jazz Festival, Hidden door, Noite Branca, Eden, etc.) and venues both as a solo act and supported by a band.
Maud the Moth has released two full-lengths so far: Home Futile Home (2011) and The Inner Wastelands (2015) plus the live album, Live at the Reid Hall (2017), has toured in Europe twice (once with Portuguese electronic duo Ermo and another with Swedish classical folk-jazz collective House of Trees) and, on a side note, has more than three million plays on Spotify.
Amaya currently lives in Edinburgh and has just finished her third full-length album, Orphnē, which has been produced, mixed, and mastered by Jaime Gómez Arellano (Ulver, Ghost, Sólstafir, Hexvessel).
Orphne arrives in cooperation with Música Máxica, Nooirax Producciones, and La Rubia Producciones on CD, vinyl LP, and digital formats on June 25.
Track list:
01 Ecdysis
02 The Mirror Door
03 The Stairwell
04 The Abattoir
05 Finisterrae
06 As Above So Below
07 Mormo and the Well
08 Epoxy Bonds
Line-up:
Vocals, piano, celeste, synths, psaltery, and percussion: Amaya López-Carromero.
Drums: Paúl González.
Guitar: Guillaume Martin (Barshasketh).
Violins: Alicia García.
Cello: Iván Caramés.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/maudthemoth
https://www.instagram.com/maudthemoth
https://twitter.com/maudthemoth
https://maudthemoth.bandcamp.com
Concept:
Orphne´(Ὀρφνή) or “darkness”, was a mythical nymph that dwelled in the underworld of ancient Greek mythology. This term shares a linguistic root with the word “orphan” (ὀρφανός), which originally meant fatherless, bereaved or desolate. By drawing a connection between these two terms, Orphnē reflects on the rootlessness and nebulous identity of the émigré, fragmented woman. Traditional family roles and familial support are seen as a light that is absent or has been exhausted, fostering a sense of desolation and alienation from society.
The aesthetic choices in the composition, lyrics, and arrangements are heavily inspired by late romanticism, art-deco and surrealism, such as Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead, Métamorphoses by Segundo de Chomón, or Ravel’s folk-inspired piano works. Orphnē escapes from the mundane and dives into a fantastical and unknown world. This sets the scene for an exploration of the self, trauma, loss and emotional paralysis through a fabulist approach.
The self is defined as removed from the material plane and inhabits the world and the universe as conceived by the ancient Greeks, where the earth is enclosed in a firmament and held up by the pillars of earth. The self exists in a state of blindness and helplessness and can pass through the porous boundary to the underworld, which is only a few meters below our feet and not exclusively the realm of the dead.
