MAYA DELILAH – The Long Way Round – LP – Orange Vinyl [MAR 28]

LP – Limited Standard Edition Orange Vinyl.

Maya Delilah has announced the release of The Long Way Round, her stunning full-length debut album out March 28 via Blue Note. The London-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist has also been named a 2025 Spotify Artist To Watch, another sure sign of her rising star after she was named to the Fender Next Class of 2024. Her debut album makes good on that promise by bringing all the elements of her art together the intimacy, the ability, the inspiration, the depth, the lightness into one striking work.

While the 12 songs on The Long Way Round are steeped in soul-pop, they also contain rich strains of country and blues, hints of gospel and choral music, and one full serving of unvarnished funk with the flirty new single Squeeze. This album is a combination of so many parts of me, says Maya. I get so influenced by different genres, people, places, and experiences that its always felt hard for me to fit my music into a consistent sound or mood. It took me a long time (hence The Long Way Round) to realize that its a beautiful thing to have a body of work that explores so many different influences.

Making the album was also a literal journey, from a barn-based studio in Devon, England, to a home studio in Los Angeles, and back to various rooms across London. All with a cast of friends new and old, including producers Peter Miles, Josh Grant, Doug Schadt, Seth Tackaberry, and Aquilos Ben Fletcher and Tom Higham, as well as collaborators including Samm Henshaw, Grace Lightman, members of FIZZ, organist Cory Henry, and drummer Aaron Sterling (John Mayer, Taylor Swift).

Mayas muse isnt the only thing tying The Long Way Round together. Opener Begin Again introduces a powerful theme. As she looks back at her first car, her first kiss, her first home, she returns to the gentle hook: Another day, another end / Oh, we begin again. The idea of cycles frames the set as the album goes on. Depending on your interpretation, The Long Way Round could be about regaining trust in love or losing it entirely. Shuffled, these songs could trace the arc of one relationship from inception to end, or it could be the bridge between a failed romance and a thrilling new one, or its a dozen separate vignettes. With these songs from soothing, psychedelic send-off Look at the State of Me Now to Western-inflected codependence tribute Necklace to the 70s soul music inspired Actress Maya proves herself a master of not just an evocative guitar solo, but of capturing lifes biggest contradiction: why everything matters all the time and also why its not that deep.

My biggest hope is that the album feels nostalgic to someone Ive never met before, says Maya. Its an interesting thought given how uniquely Maya this set is, but thats exactly what makes it work as intended. The warm glow, the wry smile, a sense of loss, and a yearning for renewal were right there with her as she looks back, and ahead, at The Long Way Round.

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Tracklist:

Side A
1. Begin Again
2. Look At the State of Me New
3. Man of the House
4. Maya Maya Maya
5. Jeffrey (Feat Cory Henry)
6. Squeeze

Side B
1. Actress
2. Did I Dream It All
3. Ill Be There In The Morning
4. My Balloon
5. Necklace
6. Never With You