[Editor’s note: On Friday, June 7, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and musician Marina Allen will release her third studio album Eight Pointed Star via Fire Records, an album sporting a rich tapestry of alternative folk and Americana sounds. Lyrically, the album’s nine tracks find Allen digging through stories from her past, making discoveries about herself along the way, and finding direction in the same manner one would make using the eight points of a compass, stitching patterns used in quilt making, and a North Star. Ultimately, she finds hope for the future and an understanding of where she came from.
Today, SWT is excited to share Allen’s essay about how director Maya Meren and her 1943 fantasy/thriller film Meshes of the Afternoon has inspired her and the album. Make sure to check back Friday for our review of the album.]
I was out doing errands, listening to a podcast, and Maya Deren, a pioneer in early experimental cinema, was brought up in the conversation. I hadn’t thought about her in many years but in my early 20s I watched most of her films, especially moved by her most well-known short film, Meshes of the Afternoon. When I got home, after putting away the bananas and onions, I fumbled through my bookshelf trying to find the one book I knew I had about her. There it was, Essential Deren, Collected Writings on Film by Maya Deren, I leafed through the book, pausing to read the passages I had highlighted almost ten years ago now, as if looking through an old diary, both surprised and disappointed that the things which inspired me then are consistent with what inspires me today. I got over myself, thankfully, and kept reading:
“The major obstacle for amateur film-makers is their own sense of inferiority vis-à-vis professional productions. The very classification ‘amateur’ has an apologetic ring. But that very word-from the Latin amator, ’lover’-means one who does something for the love of the thing rather than for economic reasons or necessity….the amateur should make use of one great advantage which all professionals envy him, namely, freedom-both artistic and physical.”
I had underlined the above text in red crayon. Imagining my young self taking these words in, I admired her courage. My simple but deep urge to write and sing music was up against a world of know-how and professionalism. At the time, I had just started to write my own songs, embarrassed by how difficult I found recording to be, basically allergic to any gadgets and gear my peers (mostly young men) used. I couldn’t ask for help then because I was already too far behind and if someone knew my dreams they would laugh in my face. They would think I’m an amaetur. And yet, eventually, the burning desire was too hot not to fan. With a lot of help, I finished my songs, I recorded them, and I played them in front of people. No one laughed. And, if they did, not in my face.
My new album, Eight Pointed Star, comes out in a couple days. Even though it was recorded in a studio and backed by a label, the songs themselves come from a place of deep amateur-ness. And I hope they always will. Below the red crayon, I underlined the same passage, again.
You can follow Marina at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and listen to her music at her Bandcamp page.
Marina Allen
Contributor
Marina is a singer-songwriter and musician based in Los Angeles
