Maya Goldblum, (a.k.a. Queen Bonobo) is a North Idaho native whose primary goal in relocating to Ireland in 2016 was to study the music of her ancestral roots. She lived abroad for three years, all of which lent to the creation of her latest EP, Sail From This Life, recorded a week before leaving Ireland. The EP portrays the tumultuous transformational side of her time abroad and the ways she learned to shed her fears, doubts, and self-judgement, in order to get out of her own way. Northern Ireland, specifically Derry, was where Goldblum built the foundations of her music career, met the love of her life, and built a community of exceptional weirdos, one unlike she had ever experienced before.
Discovering it was her last summer due to the inability to acquire another visa, Maya decided to orchestrate a closing project. Her music had radically evolved since the making of her debut album, Light Shadow Boom Boom, in 2018, and she wanted to curate her most relevant work before leaving. Together, Jack Charles Kelly (double bassist & co-producer), Andrew McCoubrey (drummer, percussionist, co-producer, & mixing), James Anderson (drummer & percussionist), Joleen McClaughlin (harpist), Neil Burns (Rhodes), Peter Baldwin (sound engineer), and Fergal Davis (mastering) all brought their own unique voices to the production of the EP.
Maya told us more about Sail From This Life as well as her influences — and that one time she freaked strangers out in New York City.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, & Billy Holiday.
Explain the title of your EP Sail From This Life.
I was talking on the phone with my dad about my frustration surrounding having to leave Ireland. I was so sad, and all I could think about was how I would lose it all. My tribe, my music network, and my relationship. My dad’s response was “it’s not your life.” It helped me recognize that there is more to life than my physical environment and that everything comes and goes. A while later when the EP came into view, a few of us from the band were hanging out on the living room floor and we riffed on that idea until Jack said, “Sail From This Life.”
Does your EP have an overarching theme?
The EP portrays the tumultuous transformational side of my time abroad and the ways I learned to shed my fears, doubts, and self-judgement, in order to get out of my own way. Northern Ireland, specifically Derry, was where I built the foundations of my music career, met a love of my life, and built a community of exceptional weirdos, one unlike I had ever experienced before. Sail From This Life encapsulates my anxieties and the surrender of my Irish love’s inevitable end. These songs examine the process of accepting the trajectory life put me on, whether sweet or bitter, and transports the listener to a moody, dark, oceanic landscape. Each song shares a common theme of uncomfortable lessons of change; they move through weighted burden, sadness, the rattling depths of the ocean, and, finally, up towards the light and freedom of “getting outside of yourself” at the surface.
Tell us about the first song you wrote.
I have many wee songs from when I was a kid, but the first notable song was “I’ll Pay In Flowers.” I wrote it when I was 15 and made a music video where I walked around New York City giving flowers away and watching the slew of responses to such an act. It was hilarious and anthropological to see how thrown off people were by a young girl giving them flowers.
Who would you love to collaborate with and why?
It’d be dreamy to collaborate with Nai Palm. I don’t know how it would sound, but I’d mostly just want to see her process and have her mentor me.
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