OYEZ by YAY MARIA

Contact tom@yearofglad.co.uk for any info, interview requests or to discuss these magnificent songs 💕

-- OYEZ by YAY MARIA --

YAY MARIA (she/her) is a trans & queer musician hailing from Derby (UK), deep in the hinterlands of the Midlands, with a few important things she would like to say. In 2020, while the world was shaken by uncertainty, Maria Machin was crafting an album fixed on making powerful and unshakable affirmations of joy, love and solidarity.

The journey to OYEZ began as an exploratory, shifting electronic pop solo project, and a special moniker set clearly apart from all of her previous work (My Psychoanalyst, Grawl!x).

It would become an outlet to embrace and explore Maria’s gender transition, and a space in which her identity as a trans woman was central - in tiny performance spaces in familiar haunts, Maria would dim the lights, project expansive found-footage creations, and friends and loved ones would in these moments see Maria in flashes of ephemeral light and shadow, free from the oppressive expectation of gender normativity, often for the first time.

Her debut record deftly captures this sense for the profound art experience. Drawing production inspiration from diverse sources such as Wendy Carlos, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Charli XCX, OYEZ feels freeing, untethered by expectation and playful by design. Grouping together expertly selected featured artists (Franx, Emzae, Zera Tonin, the town crier for the idyllic Peak District town of Belper), Maria has crafted an ambitious work far beyond its humble DIY origins.

And the story that OYEZ tells is a universal one - a triumphant struggle against the bewildering mist of a society fractured and made cruel by the hidden pains of difference and the oppressive weight of traumas past. YAY MARIA leads us from here to a place of pure joy, where hope is found in simple acts of togetherness, and in a series of rousing proclamations, culminating in her final battle cry:

"BEING QUEER IS BEAUTIFUL"

YAY MARIA is the antidote to othering - she is an empowered outsider who has the unique ability to use music as a means to make you feel loved, understood, and truly yourself.

OYEZ is released on bandcamp on September 16th w/ bonus tracks exclusive to the bandcamp release.

- YEAR OF GLAD

Tracklist

1.	'OYEZ' OVERTURE	3:00

2.	TEMPLATE	3:20

3.	LOST SOULS SOCIAL CLUB	2:42

4.	WOEBOT	4:00

5.	TRU CRUSH	2:43

6.	WE WOZ ERE	3:15

7.	PLASTIK PINK	5:12

8.	SHOPPING CENTRE	3:28

9.	EPIPHANY (In a Charity Shop)	3:51

10.	EUPHORIA	3:29

11.	WE'LL GET THERE	2:27

12.	'OYEZ' FINALE	7:50

Credits

released September 16, 2021

Label: YEAR OF GLAD
Composer/ Performer: YAY MARIA (Maria Machin)
Producer: TOM JOHN HALL
Artwork/Visuals: SIAN MORRELL
HEATHER KRUDD
Photography: DAN WHEELER
Make-up: CHERRY BOMB
Mastering: JOE CAITHNESS

‘Oyez’ Vocal Ensemble: SEAS OF MIRTH, JANE EP, KT.LEGO,
RICHARD BELFITT, SAM JORDAN,
SOPHIE WALES, SWAP C, VOM VORTON,
RAQUEL VEGA
Vox on ‘Template’
& ‘Epiphany’: FRANX
Vox on ‘Plastik Pink’: ZERA TONIN
Vox on ‘Shopping Centre’: EMZAE
Vox on ‘We’ll Get There’: TOM JOHN HALL
Poem on ‘We Woz Ere’
Written & Performed by: EMERCIANA DECOUZA
Saxophone on ‘FINALE’: CHRIS TREE
Town Crier: BRENDA WILSON

Thanks: JO LEWIS, SIAN MORRELL, KATE HARESNAPE, LOUISE CROFT, ROBIN NEWMAN, ROWAN HYDE, HAUS OF DREAD, BIFF, COB, DANIELLE COTTERIL, SAGE, SOPHIE WALES, THE BARKERWOODS, PIPPA NAYER, LAURA MI, MIA VIOLET, NIALL McGONAGLE, 10pm CLUB, SOPHIE SPARHAM, All at NTH, ICTHINGS PHOTOGRAPHY, EDIE ROBERTS, ANNA BOYD, SNUG RECORDING COMPANY, JT SOAR, AGATA

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