2020 saw Mayo-born singer-songwriter Maria Kelly retreat to a small cottage on the south coast of Ireland, where she found space to write and record her highly-anticipated forthcoming debut album. Today, she has shared 'Martha,' the first single from the project.

After starting out in the Irish music scene, Kelly relocated to Berlin in 2018, a life-changing move that inspired her four-track EP notes to self. Her stint in Germany saw her join All The Luck In The World on a month-long European tour, followed by her debut TV appearance on Other Voices Ballina. She finished up the year with two sold-out shows supporting Villagers.

“I wrote 'Martha' just after I returned from Berlin and was taking stock of just how much had changed in my life throughout my early 20s," Kelly explains. "Here I was, having just had this really formative experience, disillusioned and directionless again. Not only that, but I was no longer the version of myself that had left Ireland - and not quite who I wanted to be yet either – just stuck in this floaty, in-between with a version of myself that I wasn’t quite used to yet,” says Maria of the new single.

“The voice note Martha sent me felt like the perfect addition to the song, and it also gave me a chance to laugh at the fact that we have very little control over things we try so hard to control. This past year has felt like one big ‘in-between’ that we’re all trying to muddle our way through, so ‘Martha’ is about dealing with change and all that comes with it; regret, nostalgia, uncertainty, fear - but also acceptance and lightheartedness,” she continues.

Watch the lyric video below.