Track of the Day: Les SalAmandas - 'Mary's Got Issues'

Les SalAmandas share their new single, ‘Mary’s Got Issues’ today (Imbolc), mingling reflective lyrics with their trademark lush harmonies.

Opening with gentle guitar strumming and soothing background, the Ballydehob group use Colyne's own experiences of mental health struggles to their strength.

"Call me on a Monday, tell how you like me / Tell me all the stories 'bout the weekend you just had / Call me on a Tuesday, tell me that you hate me / How everything was ruined by the day that you just had," the track opens, with dual vocals adding a beach-like, summery vibe.

“‘Mary’s Got Issues’ was written in the middle of multiple lockdowns!" Colyne Laverriere of the West Cork duo says. "At the time I was struggling a bit with life and had to deal with my mental health for the first time.

"I guess it’s always been really cathartic to write down how we feel about things and it really helped to write it down and to sing about it. By the time we finished writing the song we realised that it wasn’t not just about me and that everyone is more complex than we think. Everyone is a ‘Mary’!”

Julie O’Sullivan added that the pair penned the song on a day they were ranting to each other about the silly things in life that annoyed them.

"We had great craic writing it as it’s not often that we write upbeat songs, it was also just nice to work out frustrations," Julie O’Sullivan says. "It happened very quickly. We started writing the song about Colyne and how she was dealing with things at the time, and it wasn’t until some time after that we realised it was a reflection of people in general.”

Les SalAmandas debut album, There’s A Sea Between Us, will be released on February 14th. It presents collection of songs they have been working on over the last three years, recorded with award winning producer Daniel Ledwell last year in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The album also includes their previously released singles ‘Now Is the Time’, ‘Mouldy’ and ‘Gold (Fall With The Gun)’.

The Irish-French indie-folk act have been performing around the country for the last two years, sharing stages with artists such as Mick Flannery, Gemma Hayes, Paul Noonan, and Wallis Bird, and this summer were invited to play festivals such as Body & Soul, Doolin Folk Festival, Coughlan’s Live and Vantastival.

They have been recently nominated at the RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards in the ‘Best Emerging Artists’ category. Les SalAmandas being their album launch tour to The Commercial, Limerick (Feb 17th), Black Gate, Galway (Feb 18th), Green Room, Dingle (Feb 24th), Coughlan's, Cork (March 3rd), and Whelan's, Dublin (March 23rd)

Stream ‘Mary’s Got Issues’ below.