Maya de Vitry
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Maya de Vitry has been making records for a long time, including as a member of The Stray Birds from 2010 to 2018. On Friday, she’ll release The Only Moment via her own Mad Maker Studio label; it’s her third solo album, and it’s the first one she’s produced all on her own. The album explores the present and how it can shape the future, and it’s not difficult to see the record as an unfolding of potential.
Not only is de Vitry’s songwriting as intimate and honest as ever, but there is a confidence to the album we all get to witness as de Vitry comes into her own. Ahead of the release and a lunchtime performance at 3rd and Lindsley as part of WMOT Roots Radio’s Finally Friday series, we caught up with de Vitry. She explains why the album sat in the hopper for so long, and discusses all the positive learning experiences that have come her way as a result.
You've been working on The Only Moment for three years now. What was the process for making this album?
I started it in June 2021. We did three full days of band tracking at this studio in Gallatin called Phantom Studio with my friend Alex Wilder. At the time, I was really wanting to try to produce my own record because I had just finished Violet Light, which I co-produced with Ethan Jodziewicz. I felt empowered and excited about making decisions about arrangements and sounds.
Then I completely put it aside for months. I was touring more by the time spring of 2022 came around, and I had released Violet Light that January. I felt I had gotten ahead of myself and put it aside. After that, I produced an album for Joel Timmons, who plays in my live band. I enjoy being in studios and helping people organize their songs and see a vision through for a record. It was my first time producing someone else’s work.
How did you know when The Only Moment was finished?
I was on tour with John Craigie in Northern Europe in January of 2024. We were up in Sweden and Norway and it was, like, so cold and stark and snowy. I played “Watching the Whole Sky Change” from the album, and people really connected with it. I realized my recording didn’t need much else, so I had Phoebe [Hunt] sing on it and Alex play the keyboard on it. I was in Galway, Ireland, and I wrote to my booking agent and stuff and I was like, “OK, the record's coming out July 12th. I just decided!”
There's this idea in music, that you have to put music out right away — strike while the iron is hot. But this moment, this recording, could be, like, discovered, and connect with somebody like in 2050. As a songwriter or a musician, I want to enjoy a really long arc of making stuff that lasts.
Do you have any takeaways from this process that you're going to bring with you to your next project?
I'm so excited because I actually don't have any projects coming up. I have spread my attention to producing other people's albums. A lot of my energy is in these new directions and I'm really excited about that. I learned that I really can take my time on a record if I want to.
How is it to perform these songs so long after you’ve written them?
I feel like I'm covering them! I enjoy them, but I feel a healthy, you know, detachment from them. I've been up and down and up and down with this record. So now I'm at an even keel and I’m really stoked to be performing them. I believe in the songs and I'm so happy that they will find some people.
