FIFTY3FRIDAYS: ALL OF A SUDDEN BY PARK HILLS CIRCLE
- Jul 17
- 4 min read
A change of format this week as we focus on the new album by the recent Fifty3Fridays favourite, Park Hills Circle. Hopefully you will already recognise the name as the project of multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter Maris O'Tierney. With distinctive Alaskan-Irish heritage and a background as a classical guitarist and soprano, Maris previously worked with her twin sister, violinist and poet Bryce, in the duo Maeve & Quinn. Now based in Chicago as a solo artist, she brings a subtle diversity to her music with the album, All of a Sudden, released last Friday.
Photos of Park Hills Circle in this feature are by Maren Celest
The record celebrates the emergence from a dark time into the light; the later blooming that arises from hard-earned healing and growth. It is drawn from a controlled palette crossing genres from troubadour folk and pop to jazz and immersive soundscapes. Many of the songs have a bucolic air to them giving the feel of natural spaces; places that resonate with experience and growth. The vocals are finely arranged throughout, wrapped in soft harmonies, comforting yet quietly emotive. Opening the LP, "Clearing", sees Maris seeking a balance between independence and space for a close relationship. Stacked harmonies lead sweeping chorus lines with soft textured instrumentation giving way to a delightful saxophone-led outro, echoing the singer’s topline vocal in the chorus.
The album carries a sense of transition throughout. It is illustrative of changes in the songwriter’s personal life: her sister moving away after almost a decade of performing together, opening a new channel for her music, living alone, caring for mental health and finding trust in a romantic partnership. Maris leaned toward her roots in classical guitar, soprano art songs and opera melodies, experimenting with arrangements on loop pedal and piano. New songs and collaborators emerged to form the regenerative project of Park Hills Circle. The airy "Spring is Here" encapsulates the renewal that comes with the season change from winter to spring. Working through a dark time with a unique lightness of touch, a chapter is closed on a relationship without holding back on the heartache while moving gracefully to a place of self-acceptance and contentment.
It is always tempting as a writer to refer to other musicians when commenting on another artist’s work. Sometimes this is helpful; how many musicians pitching songs to sync agencies themselves use the phrase ‘for fans of.’ It gives the reader a yardstick of a kind in a feature like this. However, while there are snatches here and there, but for me the beauty of Park Hill Circle is that the record does not sound like anyone in particular. I thought it would be interesting to ask Maris to take a retrospective look at influences that come to mind now that the album is out. Her response was insightful and even invited a playlist of its own!
“I don’t tend to directly think about references or influences during my creative process. My instinct is to approach songwriting and composing more organically, rather than with a specific stylistic target in mind; and then I further shape the sonic and emotional world, as I hear it, through arrangement with an ensemble and then in studio recording. That said, and as many artists would likely share, inspirations flow into our work whether consciously or subconsciously.
As I reflect on and listen back to my Park Hills Circle debut album, All of a Sudden, this strikes me as a neat exercise: on the other side of the writing and recording process, to explore what artists come to mind now or that I hear as potentially kindred (in the music, storytelling, energy etc.) in this collection of songs – which I’ve noted below! Some are contemporaries of mine and some are luminaries of previous generations whose music endures.”
Maris went on to list references for each of the tracks on All of a Sudden:
Clearing - Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman
Spring Is Here - Anais Mitchell, Cassandra Jenkins
Softly Calling Your Name - Rina Sawayama, Peter Gabriel, Cyndi Lauper
Unspoke - Enya, Adrianne Lenker, FKA Twigs
Where I Can See You - Kate Bush, Sinéad O’Connor, Feist
Company We Keep - This Is the Kit, Alanis Morissette, Rhiannon Giddens
A Million Times - Arooj Aftab, My Brightest Diamond, Oklou
Playing With Fire - Waxahatchee, Mitski, Sharon Van Etten
The Way Up - Bat for Lashes, Fleetwood Mac
All of a Sudden - Sufjan Stevens, Julia Holter, Terry Callier, Bjork
I’ve picked out a selection of those references for each track on the album and put them on a Playlist you can see below or via my Spotify page here. Before we get there, here are two more tracks from All of a Sudden to give you a further flavour of the album’s depth. “Unspoke” was conceived on a sleepless night during a heavy Chicago thunderstorm and an eventual drift into sleep. It evokes a dreamscape, carrying reflections on childhood wonder, the love of friends and the singer’s Irish ancestry. The cushioned harmonies and warm synths lend a mystical feel to the song, adding to its dream scenario.
The album closes with its title track, “All of a Sudden”, which was the first song Maris wrote for the record, aptly self-described as “the heart and anchor around which the rest of the songs orbit.” Its swirling, immersive nature invokes being alone yet inviting something of the wonder of sky and stars alongside, a sense that is extended through the beautifully arching synth lines in the song’s long coda. Fingerstyle guitar figures loop in and out as the vocals apply a soothing balm. A quietly spectacular way to resolve the album.
You can hear All of a Sudden by Park Hills Circle on all the usual platforms HERE. And catch up with a Spotify Playlist of kindred spirits below as a companion piece to this brilliant new record.
