Marlaena Moore has the kind of voice that will stop you in your tracks. On her aptly titled 2020 album, Pay Attention, Be Amazed!, the Albertan pop artist showcases a swooning country-indebted croon. Accompanied by members of Chad VanGaalen’s band, Moore’s arrangements include subtle splashes of orchestral and electronic instrumentation, while always keeping the spotlight on her golden pipes.
Softly swaying mid-album highlight “Please Don’t Cut My Garden” finds Moore pleading to an unnamed subject that some things are best left without human intervention. “The message behind the song is about making space for nature,” she explains in an email to Ears to Feed. “You can let things be simple and sweet without having to make them bigger or better.”
Rather than delivering this message with a literal interpretation, the song’s video by animator Jordan Minkoff features a technological update to the process of dog adoption. Expanding upon the playful psychedelic worlds he has created for artists like Mitch Davis, Freak Heat Waves and Body Breaks, Minkoff explains how the video’s Twilight-Zone-esque twist ending will never occur again.
“I think in the tech biz they say the app is in ‘beta’ or something?” Minkoff writes in an email. “Once I’ve worked out all the kinks I’ll release a totally safe version. What happened in this video should never happen to anyone, and I would hate to see any more homes get destroyed.”
Marlaena Moore’s Pay Attention, Be Amazed! is out now. She performs at the Calgary Folk Festival on July 26th.