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Spill The Tea 3:400:00/3:40
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Spirit - Alt Mix 3:360:00/3:36
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STEAM 4:050:00/4:05
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Flew Away 4:000:00/4:00
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Mary Reibey 4:180:00/4:18
MARYEN CAIRNS - PRESS
DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE - Dave Franklin
31 May 2024
The intriguing thing about Flew Away is Maryen Cairns’s innate ability to create a song that simultaneously sounds like the most traditional folk song and the most forward-thinking slice of alternative acoustica. With only the most delicate and spacious guitar lines and her expressive voice, she doesn’t deliver songs as well as sonic create worlds.
There is as much of the timeless folk ballad here as a song looking for a new genre, perhaps even a whole new movement to call home. Alt-acoustic? Future-folk? Atmosphericana? It doesn’t matter what you call it; genres are so passe anyway, as long as you acknowledge that here we have an artist pushing more traditional folk styles into a whole new ambient realm, an acoustic player who is as much about the spaces as the notes, but too a musician who relays her narratives like the troubadours of old.
As she recalls the lady barnstormer of her youth, this female flyer comes alive and begs us to follow her into this fabulous alternate world. It’s like stepping into a storybook and becoming one of the incidental characters as we watch the story unfold around us.
One Woman Band, Live at Echotown Studios, Vol 1
Sea of Tranquility - Steven Reid
25 April 2024
Flitting between piano and acoustic guitar - and occasional percussion - Cairns confirms her musical ability, as well as her instrumental juggling skills, and when you factor in that she’s also singing along to everything as she goes, it’s no small feat. What this one woman set also shines a light on is the lyrical prowess to be found here, a mixture of what I guess are autobiographical tales and some stories being regaled, the likes of “Kids From The Burbs”, “The Smuggler’s Tale” and “Voices From Scotland” hit even harder than their studio counterparts.
Nagamag
1 April 2024
"With the calm notes of the guitar and the wonderful restless vocals the starry night becomes even more magical. The surrounding nature quiets down and bows to this musical sound. Like the telling of a fairy tale, the mind relaxes and the senses are left to the touch of the beautiful melody. The rhythm flows like a silence that leaves only the water to be heard.” (translated to English)
Live Review - IWD - 2024
Tom Girard - Live Review - International Women's Day
9 March 2024
Armed with not just her acoustic guitar but a range of seemingly traditional Australian percussion instruments, Maryen Cairns added something different to her usual acoustic folk for this show.
Headed more into what might get called “healing music” and alternative spiritual territory it was certainly a change of pace but she took the crowd with her on this journey from pieces inspired by her experiences with Indigenous Australians to more traditional western folk styles
Modern Mystery Blog - Jane Lambert
Recorded live, the song captures the essence of growing up in the suburbs and yearning for adventure in the city. With her lightly tripping vocals and simple guitar accompaniment, Maryen becomes the campfire narrator, weaving tales of teenage rebellion and youthful longing.
Parents with Angst - Parenthood Journey
May 2024
"I found out how important my music is to me, and that I am driven to create, to write, to explore my art, and that this is a part of me that will always exist no matter what. I make sense of life through art, and if I am unable to create - for whatever reason - then the words, images, music, will build inside me until there is a point in time that they will be released, possibly in a torrent, and it all pours out. When family life is busy busy busy, I often work on music late at night, into the small hours, because at that hour everyone else is asleep and I can fully focus on the music!"
ANEW
House of Prog
25 November 2022
" I have loved Maryen for 30 years, and this new album reminds me of just why that is, as she sings like no other and creates a world of her own which we all need to investigate"
![](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/57922/a7c8e9e87b78583d8aff7207a5f774dbc8330508/original/sticky-jazz-podcast-maryen-cairns.png/!!/b%3AW1siZXh0cmFjdCIseyJsZWZ0IjowLCJ0b3AiOjAsIndpZHRoIjo0NzYsImhlaWdodCI6NDc2fV0sWyJyZXNpemUiLDQ3Nl0sWyJtYXgiXSxbIndlIl1d/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.png)
Sticky Jazz Podcast - Jeremy Hinks
November 2022
If you wanted to hear an Ultra Pagan woman's voice sounding out from the Australian Outback, with a breath of Baroque rock, hey, you got Maryen Cairns and her newest album "ANEW" for that.
She is the daughter of a Scottish religious academic, and spent time in Australia, but lives in Guernsey (a tiny island on the English channel). She has a very "Kate Bush" approach to her singing, but you feel the spirit of something so much more powerful.
We went off on tangents about history, and other pieces of her history, like the fact that she sang backup for, and toured with FISH, from Marillion. She has an array of beautiful work, that just hits you in the weirdest places.
Guernsey Press - Saturday 12 Nov 2022
![](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/57922/dc8572315b26f59b71502175d1caf69fd41a001c/original/guernsey-press-12-nov22-1.jpeg/!!/b%3AW1siZXh0cmFjdCIseyJsZWZ0IjowLCJ0b3AiOjAsIndpZHRoIjozMzM2LCJoZWlnaHQiOjI5Njh9XSxbInJlc2l6ZSIsMTAwMF0sWyJtYXgiXSxbIndlIl1d/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)