Dark folk / chamber prog duo Maer – featuring Marjana Semkina (Iamthemorning) and Anna Murphy (Cellar Darling, ex-Eluveitie) – have unveiled their debut single “Sister” along with a stunning video directed by Eggor Kree.
“Sister” serves as the perfect introduction to this exciting new project, showcasing the duo’s songwriting talent, unique composition style and beautiful melodies drenched in dark atmosphere. Featuring Ne Obliviscaris guitarist Benjamin Baret and Agent Fresco drummer Keli Guðjónsson, “Sister” is now available all digital platforms, and is close to selling out a limited run of 300 signed and hand-numbered 7” vinyl.
On the single Marjana comments: "We're very excited to have Benji from Ne Obliviscaris and Keli from Agent Fresco on this song. I rarely play guitar on studio versions of my songs and and the fact that I played on this one is quite special - but it became much easier with the support of Benji's wonderfully musical guitar and Keli's beautiful drums. And of course, Anna's guidance in the studio."
On the video, Marjana continues: "This has been a journey. A few years ago I put together a team of wonderful people and it's the seventh project and a third music video we're all making together, and Eggor has been my long term collaborator for almost a decade now. It's always a joy to reconnect with them all creatively and by now they know me and my aesthetics quite well so working with them again felt like coming home. I think they've outdone themselves this time. Eggor's work with light was always quite special but I think it really shines (I'm sorry) in this particular video, and his camera work is beautiful. Making an engaging video for a six minutes long song is a tricky affair but i believe it all came together wonderfully. This is just the beginning of our project, we've got so many dark fairytales to tell the world."
Anna concludes: “Eggor and his team did an incredible job in visualising the music Marjana and I created. We’re very much a DIY project; we don’t set ourselves any creative limitations, we recorded everything in my studio in Lucerne, I mixed and mastered it myself, and needless to say, we’ve financed it all ourselves as well. So we rely on the support of amazing creatives around us and our trust in Eggor has more than paid off!”
Purchase the vinyl and merch bundles at Bandcamp.
Marjana and Anna met and instantly connected when taking part in Prog Magazine's female-focused discussion panel She Rocks in 2019, and in 2021 began work on what would become Maer. Having both forged highly successful and award-winning careers (Marjana – Prog Magazine Best Album; Anna - Prog Magazine Best Video & Swiss Music Awards Best Live Act), the pair were hungry to experiment in new musical territory, resulting in this fascinating new project.
Marjana comments on Maer: "Maer came together very organically, it's a product of friendship and respect for each other's work. Anna is a wonderful musician and a producer and she breathes life into everything I write, turning it into something special. We have written a substantial amount of material together already and depending on the reception 'Sister' gets we're hoping to keep creating little dark fairytales for our listeners, eventually resulting in an album."
Anna continues: "We both didn’t really know what to expect when we started working together. Marjana took a leap and flew to Switzerland. We hiked, we sang, we drank wine and ended up even being able to write lyrics together which is something I’ve never done with someone. After almost 15 years of mainly being in rock and metal projects, it feels good to release something acoustic and mellow - not meaning that it’s less dark."
“Sister” was written and co-produced by Marjana Semkina, and co-written, produced, mixed and mastered by Anna Murphy.
Maer are working on their debut album, more news soon.
(Photo – Corinne Coch and Maria Yureva)
