Q+A with Briston Maroney: The Making of “Oregon / Harvard”
Sam Plascencia
The 24-year-old Nashville-based artist Briston Maroney has cemented his voice in the alternative indie realm. The artist released two-sided singles titled “Oregon” and “Harvard” along with a music video for the latter track. Full of energy and lovestruck tropes, the singles highlight Maroney’s distinct storytelling and earnest lyricism all in one. The vivid imagery once imagined by Maroney five years ago has transformed into their final version, now available in this two-sided release. Coming up on his coined 2-day Paradise Festival on November 3 + 4 at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl headlined by himself, the artist is single-handedly deepening his involvement in the DIY and indie music scene of his hometown.
Photo by Drew Bauml
We happily chatted with Briston Maroney surrounding the releases, thought processes between production and themes, as well as achievements. Read the full interview below!
Bad Wreck: Reaching to songs written over five years ago, do you feel that your style has evolved since then?
Briston Maroney: One hundred percent! It’s daunting to think of having to pull from the emotions that caused those songs years and years ago. I love the challenge of adapting who I am now to the same sentences; I think that’s how I’ve found my new *style*. Style, to me, means more than just appearance or attitude. I always think about style in regard to how I personally feel inside about the music and art I’m making!
BW: Do the singles share an overarching theme or meaning you hold close?
BM: Totally! They are both older, straight-up love/romance songs, which has been a theme in all the art I love! The bigger theme in these is melodrama; accepting that life is simple and silly and really only matters if we let it. I see a lot of beauty in embracing that, so I would say the big theme is just going all in on being alive!
BW: What was the process of working together with Jake Luppen during “Oregon”?
BM: Jake is my hero, my crush, and my greatest enemy.
BW: What excites you the most about your upcoming Paradise Fest at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl?
BM: I can’t wait to watch my favorite bands perform the music I’ve been listening to in my headphones in my darkest times over the past three years. All of the music being shared has been so huge for me, and I can’t wait to get lost in that!
BW: Following your ‘All Abroad’ North American fall tour and release of Sunflower: Deluxe, how do you feel about your accomplishments as a flourishing artist?
BM: Accomplishments are a crazy concept for me to wrap my mind around; it still feels like this is all just starting and that it could all go away at any second. But I am so grateful to have seen and done and felt what we have this year and during this chapter!
Listen here!
