Marlo Owczarzak is a Folk/Pop singer/songwriter with a classic sound and a deeply personal and thoughtful approach to her craft. She debuted in 2019 with the album “Broken Lyrics” and recently released her follow-up single, “Cities.” The track is set to a mostly acoustic arrangement of piano, guitar and strings. The lush organic production, paired with a visceral narrative of failed dreams and emotional trauma, brings to mind the work of legends like Joni Mitchell and the late/great Leonard Cohen. It’s a tale of a small town girl who came to the big city but did not find the fairytale life she thought was waiting for her.
Of New York City, Frank Sinatra famously sang, “If I make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” Marlo Owczarzak’s “Cities” is sung from the perspective of someone who did not ‘make it’ there. Lured to the Big Apple by decades of legend, the protagonist had dreams of streets paved with gold. What she found was the harsh reality that a change in geography alone was not enough to solve her problems. “I thought If I moved to this city, all of my dreams would come true.” However her epiphany is not really complete, as her solution by the end of the song is to simply move again, as she sings, “Someone please get me out of this place.”
However, in this case you don’t have to take my word for it. On February 5 Marlo Owczarzak released the fascinating commentary album “Building Cities” in which the songwriter walks us through the months-long process of writing and recording the song. We can hear firsthand from the author what she was thinking and how that led to the creative decisions she made. She discusses the external inspirations and her internal soul searching which ultimately led to “Cities.” We go into the studio with her as the musicians bring her vision to life.
“Cities” is a beautifully composed, performed and heartbreakingly honest piece of work. The song’s companion album “Building Cities” takes us deep into the creative process of the artist who brought us the song. You can listen to both below. Follow the links below the videos to connect with Marlo Owczarzak. Follow her socials to stay up to date on all of the current and future projects from this talented and insightful musician.
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Marlo Owczarzak on the Deep Indie playlists
