Mary Knoblock, is an EDM Artist & NEO Classical Composer as well as a Fine Artist who started the Produced by a Girl platform, movement and gateway for female producers, and artists while signed to Andre Williams for A&R Development via UMG in 2019. She had amassed a prolific set of electronic music and numerous albums before being signed. Her discography includes an impressive 23 albums with 150 songs produced and composed with her unique style of electronica meets jazz meets classical and trap EDM music. Instead of touring or performing, she dedicated part of her music career to building other women in the music industry alongside her creative work in music and the arts.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Mary Knoblock, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
I was immersed in all genres of music from a very young age. Classical, Baroque, Jazz, Rock, Classic Rock, Folk, Blues, really the whole arena of music. My parents were very encouraging of exposing me to as much music as they could so my music education started young. I studied the piano a bit, classical guitar and flute throughout my youth and college years. After college, I really enjoyed electronic music and wanted to produce it so learned a bit from a friend about electronic music production and dove in on my own on a DAW I found online and the rest is history really. After I became self taught in music production, I found I had a super deep passion for composing music. So I’d spend hours upon hours in the studio working out instrumental symphonies if you will. They were very raw and experimental 8 or so years ago. Nowadays we hear more experimental neo classical work outside the typical cinematic composers but it was really really niche and I’m glad I started composing before the trend of avante garde production caught on. It’s still new don’t get me wrong. But, the pieces I composed a decade ago, it’s harder to revisit that newness in composition. Your ear changes, you hear more, and question more in the composition. You listen back and think oh, I need to watch and change this in the next track. I try to let each composition unwind as a painting would and treat each song as a new work of art with its own unique boundaries and expression. After 250 compositional works or so, I felt something was left to explore and so added in my vocals and started experimenting with poetry I was working on. Combining all three forms of art practice have led me into this really fun space in music again and I’m just super grateful the listeners are finding the works accessible and enjoyable. I definitely did not expect to end up an artist in music and songwriting. The music industry just kinda found me one day after Robot Gold, a super old song of mine, and I’m grateful the industry has been so welcoming. As an artist, I started as a painter when I was young so moving into music formally was for me an extension of the artists practice of discovery of new forms to express yourself. I’ll be making music and writing forever. And I feel really blessed to have wandered into the music industry formally, later on in my 20’s, unexpectedly.
Describe your favorite and least favorite part about being a musician.
Favorite part is probably the creative outlet that’s always there in my music studio to express myself in a new song or composition. Least favorite part, learning the business side of music, but after you spend time learning it, it can massively change your career and I’m glad I spent time immersed in the business of music the past 5 years.
Your latest song is 'Mustang Runners'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Sure! The song is about walking by a friend going through a critical illness and navigating those intense complex human interactions around being there for someone in a really difficult moment in life.
During its creation, the lyrics sat for an additional year. I wasn’t sure what to do with them because they weren’t finished yet: until I came up with a new piano melody and when I heard the piano melody pour through, I immediately lit up and was like, that’s it, that’s Mustang Runners. And from the first take in the final recording, the words just took on a life of their own and left this really seeping feeling in the words, they just kindof lingered with oh runner, like right out the gate, you knew mustang runners was going to just knock us in the heart and unwind all our memories around running from pain, love, fate, life. There was this great angst in me that for a whole year, I was like this song has to come alive but it’s just not there and will it get there? So I wrote a book in between called ‘Unblocked: I saw Light.’ And in that book, my editor encouraged me to write more poetry. He’s really brilliant and I loved working with him, so my confidence in writing lyrics grew and before I knew it Mustang Runners became a poem in my book rewritten again, and it was finally ready for recording a year later. Like if I didn’t write my book in between, Mustang Runners may not have been here and that kinda does tricks on my mind. But I believe firmly challenges just shake out the gold. So the song survived, and here I was a mustang runner, two runners out of time. Lastly, I have never felt ‘overtaken’ by a song I’ve written quite like Mustang Runners. From recording the vocals, to composing and producing, the song after it was in the studio just fell together like a puzzle rapidly. Like it literally sprung to life in an hour. And when I heard it back, I had chills: and I felt this huge wave of ummmm I think this song was waiting to arrive and I can’t hold it back, it’s here and it’s ready and it’s not going through months of changes, it’s done. So very very eerie in its rapid coming together in the studio. And the vocals were a process of, um ok there’s something happening here and we’re just going to let that flow because that’s raw and authentic and we want the listener in on that tea.
How do you differ from most other artists?
I’m a bit unconventional and tend to compose outside the box of normal music theory expectations in composition and songwriting. Being a painter my whole life, I’m very very comfortable sharing raw vulnerable art. Like the painting masters, the best ones had a voice in their art, they didn’t hold back. To express through a nonverbal art form is very very challenging. That taught me to express songs in a way that is probably a bit unrefined and very performance art based. It’s different, it’s my own voice which I’m very grounded in sharing.
Where are you from and do you have a stable home or do you prefer travelling?
Portland, Oregon is my hometown, and I love traveling but love having a home base to come back too.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
All of my music in the past has led up to a combination of neo classical compositions, with edm and trap and synth like soundscapes interrupted by just some real raw vocals, not too polished, just a simple small town girl in Oregon sharing her story with the only voice she knows and being ok with it. Overall, I do feel like Mustang Runners was a maturing point for me, a bridge to a space of sound, vocals and arrangements that push boundaries in sound and songwriting. I’m ok running on the line, that’s abstract art, that’s a space I’m more alive in as a painter as well, so it’s a coming home of sorts in Mustang Runners and challenges me to take singing and songwriting to a new level - to explore the areas of my potential and my artistic vision within my music.
How do you nurture your own creativity?
I love painting and often return to my painting and art practice to get inspiration to make music. It gives me time to think about life and often songs or lyrics will come up when I’m making art.
If you could go open a show for any artist who would it be?
Taylor Swift, I mean what a dream.
Who's your ideal musician to collaborate with and why?
Jacob Collier, he’s such a gifted musician and extraordinary talent. Like I compare him to a modern day Mozart.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m releasing my album Emerald Vain on 9/8/2023! I’ll also be doing some small performances on social media for Mustang Runners and maybe an art/music show locally in Portland to perform the song live. Stay tuned on my Spotify and website for updates!