Neu 9mary: ‘I Like Surpassing My Own Expectations’

Flo Morrissey might not be a familiar name to you at this stage, and it’s true that 9mary isn’t a signed act, nor has she played more than a handful of shows and she’s barely stepped foot in London and beyond. Instead she’s slowly made her mark through a series of online videos, accompanying original songs and covers. Each and every one of them has stuck with us. Without wanting to sound like a haggard, ‘please let this be the final series X Factor judge’, she has what you might call ‘raw talent’. For someone who sounds so much like Jolie Holland, for her to not have heard of Jolie Holland until people started writing about her own music, it speaks volumes about the kind of talent we’re speaking of.

9mary is a young, precocious talent. DIY first wrote about her back in April of this year, and since then we’ve been arranging the following interview. It’s her first to date, perhaps the most confessional thing she’s put her name to beyond the tumblr page she owns. Stream the stunning ‘I Was Born Backwards’ below, and scroll down to see the premiere of her new music video.



You’re only 17, and some of the videos on your Vimeo channel are over a year old. How long have you been making music for?
I started properly writing my own songs when I was about fourteen; just before my fifteenth birthday I wrote my first ‘proper’ song called ‘Hush My Children’. I wrote the majority of my songs from my debut EP when I was 15 turning 16. I uploaded my first video when I was 15 for ‘Show Me’ which was quite a pivotal point for me. I’ve always been singing but it wasn’t till I was 14 when I started learning the guitar that I really focused on the idea of ‘making music’.

When you’re at such an age, I’m guessing you’re constantly being exposed to new experiences and ideas - new musical and cultural influences - is your sound always susceptible to change, do you think? How do new experiences impact on the music you make?
I like to be open to new ideas and experimentation within my music… I am constantly being inspired by new and old music I come across and also things i have to deal with in day to day life. I think my sound has developed already naturally just by myself maturing but I don’t think it will ‘change’ as such… instead I am open to trying new things and making things more of a challenge for myself as a songwriter and singer, I like surpassing my own expectations of what I think I’m capable of.

It’s an obvious question but it needs asking - which songwriters influence the way you write? Comparisons to Jolie Holland and PJ Harvey have already been used to describe your songs - would you agree with these?
I actually hadn’t come across Jolie Holland before I was compared to her and I must say I really like her work, she’s great! It’s interesting because I would say I’m actually more influenced by male musicians rather than female ones. To name a few.. Jeff Buckley, Devendra Banhart, Antony Hegarty, Vincent Gallo, Leonard Cohen, Marc Bolan… I also love Billie Holiday; I think she was just someone so special and her voice was so beautiful. I also love and admire Lauryn Hill’s honesty and power.

You’ve covered Antony and the Johnsons’ ‘Hope There’s Someone’ – do you feel that you can relate to Antony Hegarty as a songwriter?
I love Antony and the Johnsons. My dad and older brother introduced me to Antony Hegarty as well as CocoRosie and Devendra Banhart when I was about eleven years old and so I really feel like I have quite a strong connection with these artists. Antony Hegarty is such a unique, interesting songwriter… I love that he has that certain flair about him that makes him susceptible to be disliked by some people, he isn’t your conventional musician and he really uses his talent in such a wonderful way.

I’ve found your lyrical style to be quite confessional - eg. ““Don’t show me / I don’t want to know / I need, I need to learn to let go.” - do you create different personas for your writing or is every lyric very personal to your own experiences? If so, can you give any examples?
Well for ‘Show Me’ I wrote that song when I was 15 and hadn’t really experienced much yet, I guess I still haven’t, really… But I’m quite a confessional person so many of my lyrics are quite personal and highlight the way I am as a person. In some songs I’ve perhaps altered the experience slightly or exaggerated a certain feeling if I feel compelled to do so. I generally like to write songs that have a message of positivity, although this may not be apparent on first listen; the majority of my songs have an underlying sense of hope but at the same time are saying to not try and run away from those feelings and difficulties that we often want to run away from.

You’re currently unsigned but have you received any label interest? Is the aim to keep your feet on the ground at such an early stage in your career?
At the moment I am focusing on my songwriting and am currently recording demos of new songs and have a few projects I am working on. I have had some contact but I am in no rush to jump into anything as of yet but I’m excited to see what the future will hold.

DIY has the premiere of the video for ‘If You Can’t Love This All Goes Away’, directed by Flo’s sister, Millie Morrissey.