Montreal’s rising star Maara causes a scene as she debuts on Spray’s Punctuality label with a new rave-focused 5-tracker, Drama On.
Over the last 3 years, Maara’s journey through the underground music scene has been as fast-paced, energetic, and progressive as the beats she drops. In the last few years, she has become one of electronic music’s most exciting acts collaborating with the likes of Priori, Roza Terenzi, and D. Tiffany, as well as slinging out strong releases on a plethora of labels pushing that new-gen trance/techno sound, including NAFF, Radiant Love, X-Kalay, and Kahalari Oyster Cult.
Before she was rocking dance floors across Europe and Australia however, Maara was cutting her teeth as producer/vocalist Massie Dome. Sonically, Massie Dome sat somewhere between alt-pop and ambient rap and most of the records in her short discography are a mash up of pop, trap, ambient, and electronic music. Her curious foray as a vocalist, coupled with her immersion into the Montreal music scene and experimental platforms such as MUTEK laid the foundations for the genre abstract artist we see today.
a significant achievement – as if you could pick just one – however, is probably her inaugural album, Ancient Truth, released on Step Ball Chain Back in 2023. It was well received across the board for its mix of genres and its sensuous world-building as described by Resident Advisor, and really showed the depth Maara could reach as a producer. Her palette is rich in texture and her blend of dreamy, hypnotic atmospheres, driving drum grooves, and proggy basslines have made her a staple in the European and Australian dance circuits. Were Massie Dome soars over dreamy and surreal plateaus, Maara is a more primal force whose only goal is to make you dance.
Her latest release, Drama On, is a 5 track EP designed for the dance floor and nothing else, and fits nicely into rave connoisseur and long time friend Spray’s label. In our interview, //SNCMAG catches up with Maara to discuss the EP, developing her live set, and winding down.
Hey Maara, thanks for chatting with us. What have you been up to lately?
Hey! Lots of DJing and making music. Been a busy year with the live set, moving to Berlin in February (via Montreal) while touring! Music-wise, I’m in the midst of starting my own label called ‘Ancient Records’, which is launching very soon, hopefully. It’s been an enormous undertaking and has definitely taken longer than expected to organize. Still, everything is almost ready, and I plan to announce the first ep very soon! I’m really excited about doing my own label and believe it’s the next logical progression for me after working with so many labels. Other than that, I’ve been back in the studio a bunch, organizing things for next year while settling in Berlin. Moving here was quite a big adjustment, but things have finally clicked in the past two months. I wanted to keep the move low-key because I wasn’t sure if I would stay, and I still wanted to spend a few months in Montreal every year. Increasingly, it seems like I will be in Berlin for most of the year, however, for now. I’ve finally been able to focus on my own world and create my routine here after a hectic summer of touring.
Your live set at MUTEK looked awesome. How did you find the experience, and do you think you will do more live sets in the future?
It was amazing. It felt like the accumulation of my 10+ years of making music to play live. There’s something deeply rewarding and personal about it, including a complete sonic representation of my work and a really cool level of control you have with a live set. MUTEK had asked me to play live in 2023, but I wasn’t ready then, nor had I really considered it something I wanted to do. My music is very detail-oriented and structured, unlike improvisational and jammy music. Writing music feels very intentional to me, almost like making a drawing; there’s a certain level of precision that I wasn’t sure I could implement live. It was a huge logistical undertaking and reconceptualization of my approach, but it was so fun and worth the stress. I would like to continue playing live and develop my set more and more with time. It was the highlight of my year for sure, and I’m super proud to have pulled it off.
Let’s talk about your new EP, ‘Drama On’. What was the inspiration behind this project?
A lot of 90s progressive sounds were the inspiration for this. Often, when I make music, every time I sit down to write something, it feels like a brand-new approach, or there is a particular style I want to delve into that is specific to that session. It’s fun because I don’t think this EP is always my sound, but I feel like it was a chance to explore more cheeky prog sounds I don’t always cover stylistically. It’s fun to say, ‘OK, today I’m gonna explore this sound,’ and then in another session, be like, OK, now I’m going to try dark techno and make things stylistically unrelated. Most tracks always feel like a one-off when I make them.
How did your connection with Punctuality begin, and how did the release materialize?
Spray (Tiarnan) and I have been friends and in each other’s orbit for a while! I’m a big fan of his music and of Tiarnan as a person. He is solid, kind, and genuine and the best to work with and hang with. We made music together a few summers ago and really hit it off. We’ve been sending each other tunes since and geeking out over Ableton shortcuts, haha. I thought some tracks fit his proggy style and would make a lot of sense on his label! After sending some music over, Tiarnan was keen, and we were both stoked to shape the release.
Is there a production technique or plugin you can’t live without when making music?
Na! Ableton’s Wavetables and stock plugins are really sick. I’m mainly in the box these days. Sometimes I use the U-he plugins and Soundtoys FX, which are sick, and Gatekeeper and the Infected Mushroom plugins, which are a blast. Samples are great for drums, but these days, I’m versatile. Suppose I’m trying to be very focused and efficient then having a reference track or an end idea is so helpful and speeds things up. Still, if I’m just exploring, sometimes there’s absolutely no strategy behind how I make music. It’s really random; I just hear a sound and build something around it, etc. I start pretty much every track from scratch, but if I need some elements from an old track, I’ll go grab the parts in the Ableton finder. I always say quantity over quality because I don’t think you can always be subjective about your work, and it’s best to get out your own way; it’s usually a probability game until you make something really sick that just clicks rather than getting stuck fixating on one perfect idea or element you’re missing. Things will balance themselves out with creativity if you keep it moving. When you’re working on a different project, the answer can come to you.
Your music and persona are super energetic, but we are curious to know how you like to wind down?
I like to work out a lot and usually run every day. Trying to get back into cooking. Spending a lot of time by myself lately, which has felt very grounding and productive. Journaling, TV and playing some video games (still playing Skyrim in 2024, haha). All very tame and boring stuff. Music is mostly my life, though, in some capacity. It’s still my hobby and helps me wind down, especially when I’m not always making club music or thinking about having to release everything I work on. I would like to keep it that way and hold on to that sense of joy and expression I get from producing. I’m trying to delve more into Photoshop this year and learn some graphic design skills.
We saw that you are subletting your Berlin apartment. Where are you off to next?
I’m going to play some shows in North America and spend a month off in Montreal working on music. Then, I think I’ll be heading to Australia, I believe, and then back to Berlin! I’m very excited to be back in Canada, to see some friends in Montreal, and to be back in my beloved apartment over there that I’m also subletting.
In terms of music/gigs – what’s next for Maara?
I will launch my label and another album late next year, continue to work on my live set, and hopefully play more live. Also, a really sick collaboration with D. Tiff is coming out on Marica’s soon. There is so much music I’m sitting on and can’t wait to share, but I want the execution to feel right rather than being rushed with the artwork, the details, etc. Other than music, I am content to grow mentally and emotionally, take care of my health, enjoy my life and have fun, continue making art and be surrounded by solid friends and fam!