An Interview With LA Artist, MARKS On Her Debut Album, “This Modern Life!”

Meet LA based artist called MARKS (Lindsay Marcus). “The Modern Life” is her debut album and it was just released on June 3rd. The lead single off the record is entitled, “Heartbeat.”

Learn more about MARKS in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time today! How’s 2016 been treating you so far? What were some of the highlights of 2015 for you and your music?

2016 has been great so far. So gratifying to have this music that has been incubating for so long to finally come to the surface and start to make its way in the world.  As for 2015, highlights definitely including getting to work with Christian ‘Leggy’ Langdon to mix my album. He is such a mixing magician. 

Growing up, did you always want to be a musician? Can you recall your earliest musical memory? Has your family always been supportive of you?

Deep down yes, I always wanted to be a musician. I was always drawn to music. I have a terrible memory for just about everything except for random music trivia. I took me a while to come to terms with realizing that I needed to pursue music professionally, as it wasn’t totally considered a viable career path in my family, and I had to readjust my notions of what life could look like.

How did you come up with your name, Marks? Why did you decide not to go by your real name?

Well, MARKS is a play on my last name, Marcus. I didn’t want to use my real name for this music because it didn’t seem to serve the essence of the music. If felt like the music was asking for some kind of alter-ego to associate with. 

Next month, you will release your debut album, “The Modern Life.” How does that feel? How long did you work on this collection?

It feels exciting! I worked on the collection for about 15 months, probably throwing away more songs than I kept. It feels really good to finally get to share my babies, and see them make their way in the world. 

What was the inspiration for your first single, “Heartbeat”?

Heartbeat was inspired by a difficult breakup that I was trying to process and not take as seriously, and actually have some fun with.  

Who are some of your favorite artists? What musicians have continued to inspire you year after year? Who would you love to collaborate with in the future?

Some of my favorite artists of late are Kurt Vile, The Antlers, Christine and The Queens, TOPS, and always Fleetwood Mac.

Would love to collaborate with Ariel Rechtshaid and/or Dave Fridmann, two of my favorite producers. 

Do you have any upcoming touring plans on the horizon?

There are some touring plans being discussed but not ready to announce those yet. 

At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

At the end of the day, my ultimate goal is for listeners to feel like they’re listening to something they can relate to, but that doesn’t always have to be literal. That it could be subconscious. I don’t know if there’s one message of my music, but I did have a higher goal of hoping that I was tapping into some kind of truth.