At its best, music works like medicine for the soul. They are sad? The “Impromptu for String Orchestra Op. 5” by Jean Sibelius can comfort you. Have you had trouble at work? A few bars of AC/DC’s “Let There Be Rock” and you’ll feel better. Do you doubt humanity? Harry Nilsson gives you hope back with his version of “Mother Nature’s Son.” Or do you just want to clear your head and dance a little? Then it’s best to put on something by Prince, D’Angelo or James Brown.
Now Marika Hackman, 31, is adding another medicine to her music medicine cabinet. On her fourth album “Big Sigh”, which will be released on January 12th, she faces her fears. In ten songs, the singer talks about her vulnerability, anger, sadness and self-doubt. Every song gives insight into her soul.
Opening up and letting the audience participate in crises is what distinguishes artists, regardless of whether they write books, paint pictures or compose music. That’s encouraging. The message: We are not alone with our fears. And despite everything, they get along quite well.
Marika Hackman knows all about fears. She was 17 years old when she was confronted with death. At that time her appendix burst and an emergency operation saved her. Looking back, Hackman sees this experience, which aggravated sepsis in the hospital, as the starting point of her musical career. “It was a big shock to my body,” she says. “That’s when I had my first panic attack, and I’ve been anxious ever since.”
Otherwise, her childhood sounds quite idyllic. Hackman grew up with her older brother in Selborne, a village in the English county of Hampshire. The family later moved to Devon. Mother and father, a Finn, worked as cartoon animators. Hackman learned to play piano, bass and drums early on, and later taught herself guitar. She founded the cover duo “The Clementines” with Cara Delevingne, now famous worldwide as a model and actress. Despite initial success as a musician, Hackman began studying art in Brighton after school. She quit at 19, and a few months later she had a record deal.
Since then, her life has revolved around music – until Corona came and put everything on hold. Hackman says she found the silence that accompanied it extremely distressing. Meeting friends, swimming and going on tour – everything that had done her good and given her other thoughts disappeared from her life overnight. “I have pretty bad anxiety. Normally that’s manageable, but not having control for two years during the pandemic was bad.”
Hackman stopped writing music. Her fears continued to grow. However, as restrictions ended, her creativity returned. The first ideas became songs, and songs became the new album. “Big Sigh” is the result of this artistic rebirth, Hackman says today, the work was a laborious but healing process. “It took a long time to make this album. It wasn’t easy, and when I got to the end I was calm.”
Marika Hackman did it. She turned her fears and hurts into exciting music. You can hear their courage. He’s contagious.
