motel void

MOTEL VOID: Your latest single what shadows talk about just dropped. Can you take us behind the scenes of the writing and recording process?

MAYA RUTH: I wrote the song two Octobers ago sort of all in one go. It was my last semester of college so I was feeling all these echoes of the past and what was to come. It was getting cold. I just got back from class one day, picked up my guitar, and the song happened. For a while I couldn’t play it without crying a little. As for recording, I got referred to Sahil Ansari by my friend Justin Garcia, who works at a music shop I would sometimes go to and is just so generous with his guitar expertise. So Sahil and I set up a time to record at his studio in this Brooklyn Navy Yard bunker, pretty much exactly a year after I wrote the song, the following October. It was a good fit because he had some mics that we knew would give the song the 70s feel I was looking for, and he also had a glockenspiel, which I always knew needed to be part of the song. I’ve been obsessed with glockenspiels since elementary school. From then, it came down to mixing and producing it, which took a whole additional year… Sahil did the initial mix and my good friend Jason Altshuler picked it up from there and helped get it to where it needed to be. And now finally, two Octobers later, the song is coming out!

MOTEL VOID: Earlier this year, you released the single oblivion. With two singles already out, can we expect a debut full-length album or EP in the near future?

MAYA RUTH: I have so many songs that are ready to be recorded, certainly enough to compile into some kind of EP or LP. But I’m too weighed down by working my way through my old material to sit down and write a more cohesive body of work. Maybe in the future. But my songs are so moment-oriented. I don’t even necessarily aim for a particular genre, and often find myself writing things I can barely sing. Because each song is about capturing a very specific moment, or feeling, or idea.

MOTEL VOID: It’s been two years since your debut single ditmars blvd. How have you grown as an artist since then?

MAYA RUTH: Actually, I don’t really consider ditmars blvd my debut single which confuses a lot of people! It’s just a little voice memo of me playing that I uploaded to teach myself how to properly upload a song in advance of bell jar coming out. To answer your question, though, I don’t think my songwriting process has ever changed, but I’m definitely a lot more aware, and crushing under the weight of taking a song I’ve written and making it sound like itself in the recorded form. The production side of things drives me a little crazy.

MOTEL VOID: Being based in New York City, how would you describe the current indie music scene? Are there any local venues or fellow artists that have really captured your attention lately?

MAYA RUTH: The scene is changing so much all the time. I do sometimes miss the way it was when I was in high school. Things are becoming more and more about being seen, and posing for photos, and it makes me sick to think about honestly. I’m hoping that because it’s reached a peak, that there will be resistance to it. There already is a bit – I can think of a few diy poetry and music gatherings like that. But the talent is all the same – people are so talented. Too many to name. I saw The Overhead Bins play a pared down set at Silver Linings Lounge that was really special. This is not NYC, but when my band Homade was touring in London this summer, we saw this band Sulk. I loved them.

MOTEL VOID: Who or what is your biggest inspiration right now?

MAYA RUTH: That’s really difficult. It can be the way the wind smells one day, or someone’s expression on the subway. I mean, my forever inspirations are Elliot Smith, Broadcast, The Strokes, The Softies… it’s hard to say.