Calling Blue Jay is the songwriting project of London-based, Belgium-born singer-songwriter MarieQ (AKA Marieke De Keukelaere). Combining classic folk songwriting with elements of dream pop, MarieQ’s songs are mixed through tape to create a rich sense of atmosphere, elevating the tracks toward an otherworldly melancholy through which her words twirl. The result is a sound pitched halfway between inviting and strange, where intimacy is conveyed despite ethereal distance and the lyrics balance upon a bittersweet knife edge.
Following on from the album Woods, which was released in 2015, Calling Blue Jay is back with a brand new single, ‘Indigo Dreams’, and we’re delighted to share it today. The track is positioned “somewhere between the desert and the sea,” the lush ambience conjuring open spaces at dawn or dusk, a kind of crepuscular sadness, while the rhythmic swell of mournful violin washes over the vocals. As such, the song is at once beautiful and powerful, the delicate nuances and intricacies coalescing into a keen sense of energy, the final vocals becoming something of a chant or mantra.
“My heart takes a spin
but I won’t be giving in
No.”
‘Indigo Dreams’ is set for release on the 23rd February and you can find out more on the Calling Blue Jay website or Bandcamp page, where you can also stream and buy the previous album, Woods.