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With his wild blonde curls tamed beneath a blue beanie, singer-songwriter Briston Maroney paused for just a moment after each question before flashing a knowing grin. Plain-spoken yet somehow effortlessly lyrical, his answers were thoughtful and honest — windows into the indie/alternative artist’s mind.
“I have a really odd brain,” he said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson.
With all of his unassuming charm, little comments like this are common. To call the Nashville-based artist humble would be an understatement. In fact, he seems genuinely convinced that being a musician is too good to be true — a dream from which he could wake at any moment.
“Every few days, I’ll find some new hobby or something that I’m interested in, and I’ll be like ‘Oh great, so when music inevitably fails tomorrow, I can just start selling sweaters,’” he said.
A storyteller at heart, Maroney makes his music personal. Each song paints a vivid image of a singular moment, either real or imagined. Poignant lyrics are wrapped up in unique alt musicianship.
Fans adore the raw emotive power of his music, drawn to his signature sound and undeniable authenticity. Listening to Maroney’s music means being transported, whether to a midnight drive on his 2018 single, “Freakin’ Out On the Interstate,” or to the middle of campus in his newest song “Harvard,” which was released on Friday, Oct. 14.
“Harvard” is the perfect combination of Maroney’s alt sensibilities and lyrical storytelling. Featuring the moody guitar riffs he has perfected on tracks such as “I’ve Been Waiting,” and “Small Talk,” the instrumentation oscillates in tandem with the melody until it bursts to the forefront at each repetition of the chorus. Voice wafting in and out between verses, he sings to “Evelyn,” lamenting in the chorus that “I know that there’s a window to your heart that I’m not seeing through / I just got to find a way in.”
The single forms half of a two track release along with a song entitled “Oregon.” Both serve to solidify Maroney as a voice for an entire generation. “I am really inspired by college-age people who are so brave to take a leap,” he said, speaking about the impetus for “Harvard” and for several of his other songs. “This song really embodied the idea of false confidence and being confident without necessarily having the experience to back it up,” he said.
At 24, Maroney is just a few years older than those college-age kids who inspire him — close enough to remember the vivid emotions of late adolescence but with enough distance that he can meaningfully reflect on his experiences. Yet, his songs are not meant to glean sweeping insights about life. Maroney excels at taking listeners on a journey and asking audiences to feel, all without imposing expectations of what those feelings or interpretations should be.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just saying what happened,” he said about his policy of honesty in telling stories, a skill he has developed over a lifetime in music.
Maroney made his first foray into the music world at 16 with a Top 30 stint on Season 13 of American Idol, but it was songwriting that truly allowed him to develop his own voice as an artist. Starting out, he would spend hours with his guitar playing chords until something clicked. But now, rather than hunting down the perfect melody, he said that “creativity is a lot more sporadic.”
Whether that means remembering small guitar riffs from sound checks, or recording twenty second melodies, even little throwaway phrases in a conversation can become catalysts for creativity. “I try to be really open,” he said.
“There’s a 98% chance I’m never going to use it,” he said when describing his process of noting these tiny moments, “but if something still hits emotionally a couple of weeks after it just passes through the brain, that’s usually where I start.”
He described the process of honing in on an idea as if it were a camera lens moving in and out of focus, with shifting themes and converging ideas. Of course there is always the pressure to resonate with audiences, but Maroney’s ability to write what he remembers is what brings such tangible authenticity to the forefront of his music.
“When more people are attentive, it’s exciting, but I hope that this thing that feels like magic, that I have no control over, doesn’t just go away,” he said of the leap of faith he takes whenever a song is finally ready for the world to hear. In fact, over the next few weeks, he is taking several of these daring leaps, first with the Oct. 14 studio release, and then with presenting his own set of live performances.
The Paradise Festival, a two day music event hosted in Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, is slated for Nov. 3 and 4. Headlining both days, Maroney serves as a mentor for the indie bands that round out the lineup such as The Greeting Committee, Annie DiRusso, and Indigo De Souza.
“It’s been terrifying, but really rewarding,” Maroney said when talking about curating the festival, and deciding how to infuse his personality into the performances. Printed across vibrant posters in a puffy bubble-letter font, “Paradise” promises to be the exact epitome of the unique vibe Maroney’s fans know and love.
Live performance has been an integral part of Maroney’s career, opening for artists such as Jack White and Rainbow Kitten Surprise. He said that these experiences have allowed him to “be in the same physical spaces as some of the bands that have represented music being a legitimate career.”
Maroney also said that his March 2022 performance at Cambridge’s own venue, The Sinclair, was one of his absolute favorites on “The Sunflower World Tour,” and that he would love to return to Boston as soon as he can.
Genuine, creative, authentic, and potentially equally happy selling sweaters or performing in front of thousands, Maroney is truly one of a kind. No matter if you have already met “Caroline,” ridden the “Rollercoaster,” or been “Freakin’ Out On the Interstate,” everyone should travel to “Harvard” with him.
