FOUR years on from her debut EP, Mariah McCarthy is gearing up to launch her new album in September.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the new record, this Saturday McCarthy will play a free event at Handle Bar from 6pm, where she\u2019ll perform the first single off the album, Black and White<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack and White<\/em> is my attempt at writing almost a pop song,\u201d the folk singer songwriter said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about how wrong action or decision can shape your entire life and the regret that may cause and how not every situation is one way or another way, there\u2019s grey areas.\u201d<\/p>\n McCarthy said the album is a compilation of songs written since her first release Counting Sheep<\/em>, which came out in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile some of the songs feel quite new, I\u2019ve had them for a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cI was planning, I started looking at recording in 2019 and as I got a bit more organised, COVID hit and I wasn\u2019t able to record.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a bit of a process, I\u2019ve been in and out of the studio when we\u2019ve had openings from lockdowns, it\u2019s exciting to have it finished and ready to go.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t write the songs as an album, but three\u2019s certainly themes of loss and most of them are personal things that have happened to me, or me putting myself in someone else\u2019s situation.\u201d<\/p>\n McCarty grew up in Heathcote and after a stint in Melbourne, settled in Bendigo in 2018 where she teaches music at six schools across the region.<\/p>\n She said while she is still a solo artist, she plays more as a trio with close friends Ben Langdon and Cassie Ward and Langdon will open the launch, playing his own songs as Grand Baxter.<\/p>\n After Saturday, McCarty will perform at the Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival winter fundraiser on 24 July, and at the Golden Vine Hotel on 20 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FOUR years on from her debut EP, Mariah McCarthy is gearing up to launch her new album in September. Ahead of the new record, this Saturday McCarthy will play a free event at Handle Bar from 6pm, where she\u2019ll perform the first single off the album, Black and White. \u201cBlack and White is my attempt […]<\/p>\n