Heather Maloney joined me for an in-depth discussion of her carreer and her latest album, “Exploding Star”; the local writer’s ninth release. She has two sold out shows at the Iron Horse on Feb 7&8th to begin a full tour featuring her most personal album yet. We begin and end the interview with the capstones of her album; “Labyrinth in the Weeds” and “Leave It To Them”. In between, our conversation touches on many topics including making Western Massachusetts her home base, her song writing approach to this new material as well as her visual artistry (creating linocuts for each song). We chat about the incredibly difficult chapter of losing her Dad to Parkinsons in 2021. She went to her childhood home to find it vacant of residents but not of ghosts and nostalgia among many emotions. Two of her new songs ended up being recorded at the home; literally using the walls and floors percussively! We chatted about the intensity of this formative experience to the process. The results are astoundingly touching, emotionally complicated and starkly beautiful! Heather talks about lessons she learned about grief and loss among these songs which weren’t originally scheduled for an album release at all. They were simply a creative artist working through issues. We are collectively glad that she reconsidered that decision.
