Queen Bonobo - Light Shadow Boom Boom; (2019)

‘Light Shadow/ Boom Boom;’ is a collection of songs written during her travels, which included hitchhiking in Mexico with no Spanish on one occasion, befriending a band and staying for four days on another. Yet it was during her time in Northern Ireland that the arrangements that comprise her debut album came together. Channelling her restless, spontaneous spirit, she worked with an eclectic mix of some of the North's most promising emerging talent from different musical backgrounds, such as jazz guitarist Joseph Leighton (Moving on Music Emerging Artist 2017), pianist/composer Neil Burns (Comrade Hat), double bassist Jack Kelly (Moving on Music Emerging Artist 2018) and producer/percussionist/composer Daryl Martin (aka Porphyry, Moving on Music Emerging Artist 2019). The result is a blend of folk, neo soul, playful yet refined jazz and experimental electronica, all merging seamlessly, Maya’s passionate voice and introspective lyrics working as the thread that ties it all together.

‘Light Shadow Boom Boom;’ features ten intensely personal songs that explore different angles of depression and intertwine perspectives of accepting all sides of oneself. The title stands for the heavens above (light), the earth below (dark), and the pulse of life throughout it all. This phrase surfaced in Maya’s life the summer of 2016, right before she moved to Northern Ireland, when her dad was suffering from serious depression.