“Tallinn is the capital of Estonia. It is by the sea. Population 400 000 – 20% of it Russian. It gets very cold in October and the snow usually disappears in April. The climate is really, really bad – endless winter. We have a beautiful medieval old town but also crazy commie blocks in the outskirts – all concrete residential areas built during the Soviet period.” Maria Minerva describes to me her native home of Tallinn, Estonia, the Baltic region which according to some sources has the highest level of internet freedom in the world.
Perhaps it is this freedom and environment along with a family upbringing full of deep musical riches (her father is a respected music critic) that lead Maria to her current life as an art student in London and as a burgeoning musician, gaining respect and responses on many websites and several recording labels worldwide.
To date, she has released a cassette, ‘Tallinn At Dawn’ on Britt & Amanda ‘Pochahaunted’ Brown’s Not Not Fun label (“songs about Tallinn, the strange things in my room, California and 10 rock chicks listening to Neu!”, according to Maria) and the Noble Savages 12″ on Brown’s ‘disco’ label 100% Silk. She has collaborated with several others and put her hand to remixing bands such as Keep Shelley In Athens.
Coming across as smart, savvy and with a self effacing attitude, all the while maintaining an underlying confidence that is common in many Europeans, I spoke to Maria Minerva (real name Maria Juur) about many subjects in a somewhat non-linear manner. Listening to her music – a mix of ’80s VHS ghostly longing and defensive cool, coupled with disco beats hidden behind a gauze of sounds and washes – it’s evident her trajectory is definitely on the rise.
Some reviewers like to latch onto the perceived sexual energy within Maria’s music. Her could-have-been-a-model looks and cool demeanor no doubt add to the myth that it’s all about what goes on between the sheets. However, it’s music that’s more important than sex for the performer.
“WAY more important. I think the people who focus on that need to deal with their own underlying sexual energies! I’m not saying that it is not there, but I do not think it is the most important thing. Plus, there is a huge amount of like, “camp”, or “quotation” in it.
“It’s not me moaning, it is the distant Donna Summer. Or when I tag my track on YouTube as “slutwave” it is because it was an inside joke between me and a friend, not because I think that I produce slutwave. What is that anyway? Ha.”
I was more curious about what the 23-year-old felt was the soundtrack of romance and the sound of heartbreak.
“When it comes to romance, people tend to have soundtracks for the beginnings and endings, the high and low points. I am getting old and more interested in the possibility of a boring daily co-existence.
“I’d prefer listening to music with someone I love instead of thinking about our relationship in terms of songs. Although once I broke up with a guy and forced myself to listen to Dionne Warwick’s ‘Heartbreaker’ – it helped because it made my problems and myself appear as a total cliché, even my tongue-in-cheek approach to this song ended up being a cliché about a cliché “.
How exactly does somebody feel old at the glorious age of 23?
“I’ve always felt old. Being a teen was cool, but the twenties suck, especially in a big city like London. You can see how everyone is struggling so hard to find their way and I sense this panic in the air all the time, people thinking in terms of networking, people being forced to work for free and so on. Very competitive.
“I think the biggest thing one has to figure out is what they’re actually good at. I don’t know that many people in their twenties who would say that they are happy, but I know middle-aged people, who seem cool. I cannot wait to finally chill out!”
For someone still so young, Maria is seemingly wise beyond her years. She is very well versed in art, literature and especially music. Her tastes range from deep Detroit techno, to the drones of William Basinski, to throwaway dance pop and beyond.
“Wise beyond my years? Maybe I used to be, not anymore. I was probably just a bit more pretentious and curious about the world than the average teenager. I do not think that I’m that smart anymore… but I’m still curious. I think it comes from my parents, they are both smart people.
“I also went to a good school. Some folks have accused me of being a prep school kid. Well, what can I say? All education is free in Estonia and I ended up there. But I really look up to those of my friends who have discovered the world of avant-garde or alternative culture without coming from a good family or school, somehow this seems much more interesting to me.”
Maria’s music has sense of humour about it that sometimes can be misconstrued as pastiche. She explains:
“Sometimes I have a huge problem with the pastiche-element in my own music, sometimes I namely want to ape. I think in music, many things come down to personal obsessions. I am obsessed with both high art and cheap pastiche.”
Producing all of her music so far in the bedroom, I queried the potential risk of sending out a creation with today’s technological simplicities and ease that may have previously remained under lock and key. “I think the whole idea of ‘releasing’ has changed. Instead of releasing one album a year or every two years, young musicians (me included) are releasing everything all the time. I just ‘released’ a completely random Bee Gees cover last week via Soundcloud. It was dedicated to my friend, and yes, it was made very quickly, as result of hard-core procrastination.
“At the same time, I have a whole album out now (‘Cabaret Cixous’ on Not Not Fun). I have a different sense of every track I have made. Some have taken so much time, others are just random bastard babies. The interesting thing is that the audiences do not know about these things. And I might end up giving a wrong impression of my ‘artistic programme’. But confusion is sex, innit.”
How many songs DON’T you release?
“I have an external hard drive full of crap that i do not want anyone to hear. Sometimes I try to recycle this stuff but usually fail. What’s doomed remains doomed. Mind you, I just recycled a tiny bit of something for a Maria Minerva and L.A. Vampires collaboration and it sounded really cool – an exception to the rule.”
Maria states that the Maria Minerva persona is the idealistic part of herself.
“It doesn’t bleed into my day to day existence at all – I wish! On the streets of London, I’m less than nobody. Pop star fantasies remain satisfied online.”
With that in mind, I questioned Maria if attention from fans or writers was important to her, or was praise a byproduct of a craft that was created to satisfy her own artistic urges?
“Feedback is so, so important and I’m blown away by the fact that someone is actually listening to this stuff. When it comes to writers or bloggers, sometimes I wish they’d surprise me more, but I’m always flattered by the attention. It is also making me very curious – I want to imagine the situations, the people, everything. Initially, making music was just my way of letting out some steam and dealing with my obsessions. However, there were no expectations that it would be released.”
Have you had any bad reviews? If so how did they make you feel?
“Of course there have been some reviews by individual bloggers that were not that enthusiastic. They made me a bit sad, but at the same time, c’mon, music is universal but it is not THAT universal. Everyone is not into the same stuff.
“Some comments have been really funny, they have not even been about the music but rather about my looks or something irrelevant. At Altered Zones, someone commenting on my Cali Scheming video and said I looked like Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chilli Peppers…or when someone says I’m a “fucking hipster” or says I’m Finnish and represent the ‘Finnish post-structuralist rave-scene’. I have a well-developed sense of humour, so I find all this hilarious! As long as I know that some people genuinely like the stuff, I’m okay with it.”
How do you deal with disappointment?
“I take a bath.”
What is the worst thing you could be labelled as?
“FAKE.”
Tell me about Maria Juur at age 9. What are some of your formative memories?
“Summers at my grandma’s place, my dad listening to an awful lot of music. I was at school then so probably first dramas involving human relationships. Making friends. I think around then I also fell in love for the first time. It was with my classmate Edgar. In 2011 he is studying to become a doctor. Grandma passed away just recently. My father is still listening to a lot of music.”
Maria’s current studies are sometimes at war with her creative processes. With a B.A. in Art History already under her belt, she is currently studying towards an M.A. in aural and visual cultures at Goldsmiths. Despite that she’s managed to collect and create enough material to release a new album, Cabaret Cixous.
“I’m interested to hear what the critics that have not read this interview will say about my ‘development’, as the tracks on the LP are more like proper songs, even though they were recorded at the same time as the earlier releases. When I got signed, Not Not Fun just wanted to curate and release everything I had done, so probably I’ll be feeling pressure with this release. Cabaret Cixous is how it is – material recorded when I did not expect that many people to actually hear it, as it was with the tape (‘Tallinn At Dawn’). The latter was received well, so I’m hoping that people will dig the new LP too.
“Cabaret Cixous is very pop, or if you like, avant pop. I’d say it is very accessible, leaving aside the super weird album artwork that I cannot wait for people to see cos it is absolutely insane. I just realized that the majority of the songs have extremely lame love lyrics, the tape was a bit more sophisticated, but yeah, the LP is very much about mental and physical love. However, I have to say, it is more inspired by the history of pop than my own experiences. It is still sincere and it’s likely you won’t hear the lyrics anyway because of the reverb!
“I think it is more for girls than boys but my audiences are open enough so I shouldn’t really say that. The title is a reference to Cabaret Voltaire, Cabaret Derrida (an electronic music festival once held in Estonia) and Helene Cixous, phallogocentrism, dadaism and yaddi yaddi. Yes, I have been in the university system for too long, but I just loved the alliteration too. I think people will remember this.”
Cabaret Cixous is released through Not Not Fun.
