Marcyline

“Worldbuilding, architecting immersive spaces and environments”

It seems to me that you spent a lot of time working on your new record, ‘Treegiver’. Tell us how you approached it and what’s the typical process for you when it comes to songwriting?

We definitely spent a significant chunk of the time with ‘Treegiver’ tweaking very small details through every stage of the process. Drew Stier, who produced it, and Griffin Ashburn, who mixed it, were very patient with me. We just approached it with a sense of rigorousness and thoroughness, something I’d like to bring even more into the next project.

In terms of songwriting specifically, I am super interested in expressing myself through worldbuilding, architecting immersive spaces and environments. As such, I like using a lot of lyrical imagery and being really particular with arranging and sonic texturing. - It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine

Marcyline, “The Ruins”
I’ve been led to believe that Gen Z’s taste in music is almost entirely being shaped by the algorithm at this point, in which case there’s nothing to do but hope that, say, Phil Elverum finds his way into playlists that will inspire young folks to process The Microphones’ tape-hissiest fits through hauntology TikTok, or wherever it was that teens were using The Caretaker to scare each other. Marcyline is a perfect synthesis of these two influences, with “The Ruins” serving as the most upbeat moment on Chris Paraggio’s debut LP that still manages to balance ramshackle production and ambient elements of dark-woods horror. Let’s get this trending. - Flood Magazine

Marcyline caught our attention with their new single The Clearing. The minimalistic essence lets the songwriter shine. The chorus melody is seductively soothing, it offers the proper payoff to the verses tangled cadence. The initial guitar work is nostalgic and intriguing, recalling selections by The XX with its unassuming selective melodic genius. Less is more when you’re picking the right notes.

In the first section we also found evidence of Spoon and the Gorillaz. The singer employs a similar raw delivery while retaining complete control, and his melodic swells shine with urban attitude and instinctual melodic appeal. Timely samples are employed throughout, foreshadowing the raucous Radiohead Rock inspired raging outro. We also connect that reckless vibe to Car Seat Headrest. That progressive surprise calls you to explore their collective catalog. We dig both ends equally, stay put for the outro, it’s worth it.

Hear The Clearing now on our Best New Indie Playlist. - The Wild Is Calling

The darkly ambient debut by NYC-based experimental solo artist project, Marcyline, is informed by constant sleep deprivation, paranoia, nightmares, childhood fears, dead of night noises from the forest, art films, and vibey television shows. Recorded in the middle of the woods in Upstate New York during the first wave of lockdown, Treegiver is emblematic of the isolation and terror of the times. The transporting 9-song album is the vision of singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Paraggio, and it was co-produced by close friend Drew Stier.

“I love the concept of ‘worldbuilding’ that I have always grown up seeing in my favorite TV shows, books, and movies; for me, architecting immersive worlds and environments and expressing myself through this process is what I love about making things. It feels most natural to sit in moods of discomfort, strangeness, and creepiness,” he says.

The hauntological album is influenced by the work of evocative sonic auteur The Caretaker and genre-defying adventurers The Microphones. Marcyline’s songs are moody, earthy, and explore the outer realms of freak folk, noise, and scuzzy indie rock. Chris’s lyrics are non-linear and not narrative based, instead he paints visual pictures with vivid and sometimes abstract descriptive writing. Live, these songs are brought to full vibrancy by Chris on guitar and vocals; John Baggetta on guitar and backup vocals; Drew Schlingman on bass and backup vocals; Stephen Papa on keyboards and noise; and Trevor Jones on drums.

Treegiver nestles the listener into creepy, wintery, and nocturnal folklore inspired by the woodlands of upstate New York. Intrinsic to its genesis and its aesthetic is an off-the-grid existence. To that end, Chris wrote the lyrics on a typewriter, opting to create in a pure way disconnected from the cluttered conveniences of cellphones and computers.

Treegiver opens with the grand and gritty “Carmen,” a noisy indie-rock track with an artfully-architected textural overlay. “Carmen” takes the listener on a journey to find a lost friend, and its lyrics are as captivating as a vintage suspense show. One choice passage is: “Now we’ve found the spot not too far down the rock face/And a thousand year old lake spans the slate of stone tens of miles down/We yelled her name and all sorts of other things but it was quiet cold and late/And so we made a fire as the lake made waves.”

The ethereal “I’ll Say It All To You” recounts a nightmarish romantic fantasy plucked from a dream in which Chris fell in love with a creature, but woke up feeling a sense of longing and grief. The rousing song, “Death,” features an onslaught of dance-rhythms set to seething, punky indie rock. The excitement here brings to mind a chase sequence in the overall cinematic scope of the album.

Treegiver winds down with the meditative “We Walked For Days,” a spirited aesthetic homage to the animated television miniseries Over the Garden Wall. Here, Chris’s lyrics are poetic and vivid. Chris sings: Fall festivals and endless purgatory dreams/We followed worn-out paths of orange-yellow leaves/I’m afraid that if I blink again they’ll turn to green/So the mansion stared back with no front door I could see.

Exclusive Quote from Chris Paraggio:

“With vivid imagery and ghostly, earthy textures, _Treegiver creates a unique and unsettling environment for the listener to fall into. The album reflects my obsession with my favorite strange films, television shows, and video games, my fascination with liminal horror and hauntology, and my own creepy nighttime forest adventures. I want to place people into the world and folklore of Treegiver with an almost uncomfortable level of immersion.”_

“The album was written and recorded over the course of several months in the woodlands of upstate New York with producer Drew Stier. Both lyrically and sonically, we were really chasing this concept of worldbuilding, fleshing out this unique world and using that process to express uncomfortable feelings. Worldbuilding is something that I’m really passionate about as a recording artist, and it’s one of the defining aspects of _Treegiver at heart. It was this process that made the album into not only a unique world, but a very accurate picture of my state of being.”_ - The Big Takeover

Treegiver opens with the grand and gritty “Carmen,” a noisy indie-rock track with an artfully-architected textural overlay. “Carmen” takes the listener on a journey to find a lost friend, and its lyrics are as captivating as a vintage suspense show. One choice passage is: Now we’ve found the spot not too far down the rock face/And a thousand year old lake spans the slate of stone tens of miles down/We yelled her name and all sorts of other things but it was quiet cold and late/And so we made a fire as the lake made waves. - The Rundown - From The Strait

NYC-based experimental art-pop singer-songwriter Marcyline is set to release his debut album Treegiver in February of next year. The 9-track collection, written by multi-instrumentalist Chris Paraggio, and co-produced by his good friend Drew Stier, was written during the lockdown, and deeply inspired by the concept of “worldbuilding” and the oddities that come from letting your surroundings fill with imagination. - Dusty Organ

The darkly ambient debut by NYC-based experimental solo artist project, Marcyline, is informed by constant sleep deprivation, paranoia, nightmares, childhood fears, dead of night noises from the forest, art films, and vibey television shows. Recorded in the middle of the woods in Upstate New York during the first wave of lockdown — Treegiver, out February 3rd, 2023 — is emblematic of the isolation and terror of the times. The transporting 9-song album is the vision singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Paraggio, and it was co-produced by close friend Drew Stier.

The hauntological album is influenced by the work of evocative sonic auteur The Caretaker and genre-defying adventurers The Microphones. Marcyline songs are moody, earthy, and explore the outer realms of freak folk, noise, and scuzzy indie rock. Chris’s lyrics are non-linear and not narrative based, instead he paints visual pictures with vivid and sometimes abstract descriptive writing. Live, these songs are brought to full vibrancy by Chris on guitar and vocals; John Baggetta on guitar and backup vocals; Drew Schlingman on bass and backup vocals; Stephen Papa on keyboards and noise; and Trevor Jones on drums.

Treegiver nestles the listener into creepy, wintery, and nocturnal folklore inspired by the woodlands of upstate New York. Intrinsic to its genesis and its aesthetic is an off-the-grid existence. To that end, Chris wrote the lyrics on a typewriter, opting to create in a pure way disconnected from the cluttered conveniences of cellphones and computers.

Today Glide is premiering the album’s first single, “The Clearing,” which showcases the experimental sounds that fuses lo-fi indie rock with eerie bedroom pop. The simple beat allows the band to layer in unexpected and occasionally spooky sounds that complement vocals reminiscent of Radiohead. The song draws inspiration from a ghostly winter woodland encountered on a bizarre late-night walk. It culminates with a cacophony of percussive and electronic sounds that gives way to distortion and brings the song to a chaotic close while still maintaining a respectable amount of melodicism. With its release date of October 28th, the single comes just in time for Halloween.

Chris Paraggio shares the inspiration and process behind the song:

“The Clearing” was the first song I recorded with producer Drew Stier in an upstate New York basement. Creepy and wintery in its vivid imagery and noisy textures, it’s a super stylized reflection of my own anxiety-ridden nocturnal woodland adventures. It was written and recorded during a time of constant sleep deprivation and fight-or-flight paranoia. It was heavily inspired by liminal horror and hauntology, and paints a set of nightmarish scenes that I always wanted to feel uncomfortably immersive for the listener.

In this sense, “The Clearing” builds a world for one to sit in and experience. I’m really interested in this idea of “worldbuilding” as a recording artist. Fleshing out complete worlds like I’ve seen in my favorite multimedia and expressing myself through that process is what makes creating so exciting for me. Writing this song was the first time I was really able to take all of that inspiration from television, movies, books, and video games, and combine it with my own feelings and experiences. Architecting aesthetically unique spaces, encounters, and environments for both the listener and myself is really what made “The Clearing” so electrifying for me to make. - Glide Magazine

We recently connected with Chris Paraggio and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Treegiver, my debut album under the name Marcyline, has definitely been the most challenging and rewarding project I’ve worked on to date. What started as a collection of anxious and cooped-up sound experiments during the 2020 lockdown really allowed me to find and reinvent myself as an artist.

In trying to build this unique and immersive musical word, the many challenges that we’ve run into have only made it that much more meaningful to me. With its full-fledged release coming up in the next few months, I just hope it will take on a life of its own in the arms of the listeners.

Chris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Chris Paraggio, and I make experimental rock music under the artist name Marcyline.

I love the concept of worldbuilding that I’ve always seen in my favorite TV shows, books, movies, and games. Architecting immersive worlds and environments and expressing myself through this creative process gets me most excited about making music!

This passion really came into focus when creating the debut Marcyline album Treegiver, which places the listener into a dark and wintery folklore inspired by the forests of upstate New York.

Marcyline also exists as a live band in New York City bringing this world to life in a unique way at each show.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?
It’s just that I genuinely love writing, recording and performing music, and that I hope listeners can find a unique and resonant home within my work.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
For a long time, I was quite caught up in musical tradition, coming from a background of both classical performance and trained songwriting. But, while long-established patterns are important to understand, I’ve had to realize that they shouldn’t be rigid rules. Songs don’t need bridges! Vocals can sound quiet! I mean, of course, it depends on context. I think it’s all about finding balance, picking and choosing from tradition, and making sure that what you’re creating is the most true to itself (and yourself) that it can be. - Canvas Rebel

Marcyline is a talented solo artist from NYC, and I recently came across his latest release, ‘The Clearing’. This indie rock song is quite different from what we usually share, but I love the gloomy and surreal atmosphere it creates. It features clean vocals, mid-tempo drums, and I really like the hammond organ in the first part, which adds a little darkness to the melodies. The second part is very special: blasting drums, powerful and fuzzy guitars, and a bunch (!!!) of overdrive.

It’s experimental music, and I dig it.

Melody: ★★★★☆ | Production: ★★★★★ Energy: ★★★★★ | - IndieTapes

We were honored to check out the new single “The Clearing” by NYC-based experimental solo artist project, Marcyline.

We found Marcyline to be hauntingly intriguing as the music had a welcome sense of dark mystery.

Marcyline is the well crafted solo project of singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Paraggio

The first single “The Clearing” is off the upcoming album “Treegiver” out on February 3rd which was produced by Chris and co-produced by close friend Drew Stier

You can listen to “The Clearing “ on Spotify and on Apple Music

Live, these songs are brought to full vibrancy by Chris on guitar and vocals; John Baggetta on guitar and backup vocals; Drew Schlingman on bass and backup vocals; Stephen Papa on keyboards and noise; and Trevor Jones on drums.

The Clearing, is a bracing dose of cryptic and claustrophobic experimental indie rock imaginatively arranged and coawith ethereal textures. The song is inspired by a ghostly and winter woodland encountered on a bizarre late-night walk. Story goes that the pair found a path in the woods that led to a strange circular open area that looked and felt liminal and unnerving.

Chris , comments about “The Clearing “

“The Clearing” was one of the first songs lyrically developed for the project and set the tone for the feel of the project. Some of its words were written as the song was recorded with Chris preferring to improvise so as to stay close to the emotions and feelings he was experienced during his and Drew’s spooky stroll. The opening lines here are juicy and scene-setting, Chris sings: Last night my brand new best friend asked if I was up for a little walk she said I wanna go to the overpass at night I wanna live somewhere that’s safe/We went to go there is someone behind me there’s someone on my left there is something behind me/And as the camera swings around for the wide shot I’m stuck being ground to dust. Chris says: “Those words capture a moment where I was extremely tired and paranoid, and was pretty consistently feeling a strangely intense fear of something watching me or being right behind me.”

We found ourselves entranced by the mystical beauty of “The Clearing “ This is an artist and a song that you must experience. - The Whole Kameese