Anna Murphy has just released her brand new album Cellar Darling, and were lucky enough to get the opportunity to interview her. This is the result…
Could you introduce yourself for the readers who may not know who you are?
I’m Anna Murphy, a half Swiss and half Irish musician and sound engineer living in Lucerne. I left school at the age of 16 to join the folk metal band Eluveitie and since then I’ve been touring and recording albums with them and it’s the main focus point in my life. Apart from being in various other projects and bands, I’ve now started my solo project.
What made you decide to go it solo? Your solo material is very different from Eluveitie’s music – was it a conscientious decision to make it drastically different or did it just sort of happen?
I’ve always written my own music, but never knew what to do with it. It has always sounded like that and I’ve never had much interest in writing metal music myself even though playing it is really fun. At some point I decided to just make an album out of this collection of songs and release it under my name and that was that!
You recently released your new album Cellar Darling. Could you tell us about the writing/recording process?
The writing process was pretty long, about 3 years or more. About half of the album was written at a point where I didn’t even know there would ever be an album, but still all songs together form a concept which is about a long period of my life (part 1 of the album) that comes to a conclusion in part 2 which was written when I already knew I was going to create Cellar Darling. The recording process lasted about two months, we took our time at the studio and didn’t have strict deadlines. So it was pretty relaxed and we could focus on what was important.
Which track is your favourite on there?
I don’t have a favourite 🙂
One of my personal favourites is Twin Flames – could you describe the story behind that track?
One twin & other twin = insane and happy twins
One twin without other twin = insane and sad twins
Simple, really simple, but not really. Random words and rhymes, happy melodies covering up a sad twin looking for the other twin and getting hit on the head with a shovel held by a really, really angry monster.
What made you decide to release Cellar Darling via kickstarter?
I really like the concept of ‘this is what you’ll get, please help me if you’re interested. If I want to create a product like an album, I want it to be 100% me with no compromises made anywhere, and there’s no better and more honest help than that of your followers. I plan on releasing my music mainly for free in the future. So whenever a song is written and I feel it’s done, I’ll have it available on my platforms. Except of course if I feel like collecting something for an album again 🙂
How awesome did it feel when you reached the funding goal?
Really awesome!! Even better than reaching the goal and being able to realize the album was the feeling to know that over 400 people trust in my creativity and like what I do.
I recently received my copy of the album and the artwork is absolutely stunning – how long have you been painting for?
Thank you! You’ll find this amusing, but I only painted a little as a kid. So these are the first things I’ve painted since I’m an ‘adult’.
Could you tell us about the process of creating the artwork?
Maybe this is an even more amusing story – I discovered that painting was quite fun in a clinic where I was being treated for a few months. Painting was used as a type of therapy and it immediately made me think “there’s no way I’m going to do that.” Well, I ended up painting quite a lot there, which also made me decide to do the artwork myself since I didn’t have any idea what it could look like. And then I decided to collaborate with my favourite artist, Costin Chioreanu from Romania. He did the layout, the writing, filters and effects. It was great working with him and it turned out exactly how I had imagined it!
Which song are you most looking forward to performing live?
Harley Quinn!
How will your live shows differ from the ones you play with Eluveitie?
Since the music is so completely different I don’t think there will be any similarities to be honest…except of course that there’s some of the same members involved and we’re playing instruments on a stage 😉
And what are your hopes for the future?
I NEVER think about the future, I kid you not!
Cellar Darling is out now and can be bought from here. Read our review of it here.
She is kind of awesome. Did you hear her doing vocals on Status Minor’s Ouroboros? She was incredible.