marykate o'neil press

"Marykate's skillful melodies and delicate voice are veritable pearls of sweetness. Deeply authentic and original, Marykate has crafted a style with humor and irony intact anchored in daily life".4 stars - Rolling Stone

"If Elvis Costello and Astrud Gilberto swapped spit in another time dimension, singer/guitarist Marykate O'Neil would be the musical spawn of their eros. A doll-faced talent with enough 60's chutzpah and '90's cynicism to spark her own songwriting genre -- call it 'beat-pop'. Picked as an Essential Listen --- CMJ

"O'Neil's music is the perfect blend of metropolitan indie high society and Music City's tradition of sanguine, heart-crafted songwriting." -- Rockpile

"On the surface, O'Neil's songs are pure pop - soothing and sanguine - but the lyrics add depth and darkness, often creating a juxtaposition to the sonic undertones. Marykate O'Neil is like a cold glass of lemonade for those of us who prefer to spend the summer in the sticky, smelly city than at the seashore." amplifier

"Marykate O'Neil is an artist with a sweet voice, biting and witty lyrics, and folk pop arrangements --- witty angsty goodness." venus

"1-800-damn right! - the record sparkles with classic touches and Marykate's winning vocals are full of tenderness and humor throughout. To paraphrase XTC's Andy Partridge: 'It's really super, Supergirl'." Performing Songwriter

"Marykate O'Neil an artist to watch. 1-800-Bankrupt is a charming sophomore effort and a rare instance where everything simply clicks". Filter

Thank God for Marykate O'Neil. Sounding a little like a female George Harrison and a lot like herself, O'Neil packs a peppy punch in each of these economy-sized tracks -- There's no denying she's one hell of a songwriter, both musically and lyrically." -- splendid

"Le nouvel album de Marykate O’Neil est enfin disponible dans les bacs. Deux ans après un 1er essai solo très bien accueilli outre-atlantique, mais aussi en France, qui avait révélé son indéniable talent, la jeune new-yorkaise nous revient donc, cette fois avec un projet réalisé en bande. France les Inrocks titrent ’ le Girl Power change de main !’. La marque de fabrique de la jolie new-yorkaise reste toujours ce savant mélange de délicates mélodies et de textes aigres-doux. Une pop que l’on pourrait qualifiée d’urbaine. Les chansons de son nouvel album sont toujours aussi intimistes et les mélodies pleines de sensibilité. Marykate O’Neil continue de nous conter sa vie qui est un peu la notre aussi. Marykate est définitivement une jeune femme de notre temps." -- EU2

Rolling Stone magazine has rhapsodized on Marykate O’Neil’s songwriting talents. And new-music periodical CMJ has also sung O’Neil’s praises.

But locals do not have to trust the critics. They simply need to listen to O’Neil’s song “Hudson,” on which she casts a romantic sheen over the mid-sized town so many of us simply drive through and past thanks to its proximity to I-290. O’Neil, who now lives in New York City, even turned her hometown’s vexing traffic rotary into a desirable totem of simpler times. Now that’s writing talent.

“It’s guess it's true what they say about the grass being greener,’ O’Neil said, adding she has a new song called “Mr. Friedman’s,” which is based on her memories of an old dry goods store she would go to as a kid.

But like many aspiring artists, O’Neil bucked against the quaintness of her surroundings and headed to Boston. While attending Boston University, O’Neil ended up singing and playing guitar in the indie-pop outfit Piewackit. Though the band had a deal with IRS Records and was pulling off shows with Mary Lou Lord and Elliott Smith, things fell apart, and O’Neil moved to New York City.

In 2002, she recorded her self-titled debut album, financing the project with pre-approved credit cards. The record caught on among fans of literate pop, and reached the top 10 of the CMJ charts, which monitors airplay on music on college and independent radio stations.

Along the way, O’Neil befriended likeminded musicians and writers and found herself working in Nashville on her sophomore album, “1-800-Bankrupt,” which was again financed with credit cards. Singer and songwriter Jill Sobule signed on to help her friend, which led to O’Neil heading to Nashville to work with Roger Moutenot. O’Neil also cut song tracks in her Brooklyn apartment.

The Nettwerk music group picked up “1-800-Bankrupt” and re-released the album, broadening O’Neil’s exposure. She has twice toured Europe and is currently touring the East Coast. O’Neil said she has enjoyed the touring, noting that it reminded her of working in Europe, where it was common for concerts to become big communal conversations.

But simply listening to O’Neil do all the talking will suffice. Her songs are rich in detail and unpredictable in mood, meaning her work can be as complex as life itself.

Yet her warm, confident vocals and buoyant pop arrangements offer endless appeal, making even the most woeful of O’Neil’s tales quite listenable. Sure, there is a good deal of heartache on “1-800-Bankrupt,” but there is also plenty of humor and optimism in the mix to make clear that O’Neil is in love with the liberating power of pop.

Though poppy, do not discount the clout of her poetry. O’Neil’s new album contains a three-song passage — “Secret War,” “I Sleep With My Clothes On” and “A.D.D.” — that forms a quirky cycle of emotional turmoil and uneasy resolution. The songs at first blush seem unrelated, until it becomes apparent O’Neil bleeds one into the next as if they are meant to exist as one multifaceted, mesmerizing statement.

If O’Neil’s songs sound like nuggets from “real life,” that’s because they are.

“I still have a day job,” she said. “When I did an interview with Rolling Stone, I did it from my cubicle. The whole time I was thinking, ‘This is not the image I had of a Rolling Stone interview.’ I have a totally normal life, and I have this other life.”

And sometimes that other life must feel surreal. Consider the time a reporter in Spain asked O’Neil how she felt about the versions of her songs performed by Japanese pop star Tomoyo Harada.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” O’Neil said. “I looked her up, and she’s like the J. Lo of Japan. She recorded three of my songs. I bought her album online and it was like hearing karaoke versions of my songs. Everything was the same but the voice. She even sang like me if I could sing in Japanese.”

O’Neil is already deep into work on a third album, but given the breadth of experiences he has already had — from playing tiny solo gigs to big festivals that felt like “U2 moments” — she knows what to aim for in putting together her songs.