www.maryastarkmusic.com Marya has been casually writing songs for most of her life. Her first writings were experimental commercials and fairytale shinnaniguns. Through her journey through performing arts highschool Arizona School for the Arts, these poems and ditties evolved into priceless parodies, comedies and tortured emo love songs. It wasn’t until college, however, that she really discovered her knack for songwriting. Originally intending to study opera on a vocal scholarship at Chapman University, she became increasingly interested in psychology and integral studies, the healing arts and curious about the spiritual nature of reality. Stumbling upon music therapy as an alternative major to vocal performance opened the floodgates of songwriting as a self-cultivation practice beyond performance, and since then, Marya has never looked back. Now several years, a degree in music therapy, a masters study in medical qigong, and hundreds of songs and performances later, Marya emerges from the studio with her debut release “The Garden,” a collection of 13 songs ranging in influence from classical art song, cinematic indie folk, avantgaurde musical theater, to very basic stripped down acoustic heart songs. Each song penetrates, creating its own unique aesthetic world, featuring lush string arrangements, pounding orchestral drum sections, Queen-styled vocal harmonies, reggae horn hooks and vocal percussion, all centered around Marya’s powerfully enchanting voice and articulate, lucid storytelling. Woven through the exploration of picturesque musical landscapes is a spiritual journey, one that shows many facets of the diamond.