Dea Matrona have recently been a band that everyone has been talking about. With praise from the likes of Nels Hylton of BBC Radio 1’s ‘Future Alternative’ as well as Narc Magazine, Buzz and Joyzine, the duo have had nothing but an uphill spike since they entered the Irish music scene in 2018. Recently I had the pleasure of talking to multi-instrumentalist and one of two vocalists for the group, Mollie McGinn after the successful release of their debut album, ‘For Your Sins’.
First of all congratulations on the release of your debut album, it’s absolutely incredible, I just wanted to ask, you have a history of busking in Belfast from a young age, what was the turning point for you in deciding to take it on as a career?
When we started busking we got paid gigs like weddings and pubs and it sort of took a turn and we were like “yeah lets do this as a career.
Amazing, so it just happened very naturally. You’ve just released your debut album, ‘For Your Sins’, what was the writing/recording process like?
It was kind of sporadic, we went to a lot of producers and we didn’t really like anything we heard so we did it ourselves. We didn’t record it in like 2 weeks, it was all over the place over the course of 3 years – that’s sorta the problem when you do things yourself, you get to take your time with it.
“I suppose taking your time is never a bad thing. Do you have a favourite track on the album?”
“I don’t but Orláith’s is ‘Glory Glory’ – for me it’s just very hard to choose.
Honestly I feel the same, when I was listening to it I thought I had a favourite song then the next one came on and then that was my favourite song, I just couldn’t choose.” In saying that, when I listen to the album it gives me a mental image of one of those films where someone is driving down an American highway in a convertible just looking so relaxed and in their element. If this album had to be a soundtrack to a movie, what movie would you want it to be?
“There was one song, ‘Dead man’s heart’, the album was giving Thelma & Louise vibes. We were trying to do, like, Johnny Cash style country vibes. You have sorta Johnny Cash singing about shooting someone and then Dolly Parton (completely different vibes) – we just always thought of it being like Americana country vibes – one of those movies.”
“Who were your main influences when writing this album? Were they consistent from one era or were they a bit more chaotic?
“We did have a consistent influence – we listened to a lot of different artists for nearly every track, Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles – we wanted to capture the 70’s vibes because we’ve always been inspired by that time”
“And one final question; if you were stuck on a desert island and you could only bring one thing with you, what would it be?”
“I would say my phone but then I’d have to bring my charger as well – honestly I don’t think I’d bring anything, I would just try to focus on getting off the island.”
Dea Matrona’s debut album, ‘For Your Sins’, is out everywhere now.
They headline the Limelight Belfast on 22nd May 2024 and will also perform a special acoustic show.
