Marika Hackman

On False Dogs, Marika Hackman’s fifth album (released on February 19), she navigates the spectrum of emotions felt upon reaching milestones in your life previously imagined as a child. Produced, arranged and written by Marika herself, False Dogs is her most assured and emotionally affecting record yet: an intimate album about the beauty and anxieties of mid-thirties malaise. When the hedonistic romanticism of your twenties melts away; the stark reality of grief and a deeper understanding of the passage of time appears. The album references the imagined worlds often dreamed of as a child: the structures and ‘false gods’ unquestioningly believed in and so comfortably put aside with the wisdom of age. The playful spelling error of False Dogs acts as a nod to this changeability of our dreams, desires and belief systems. "Life has an arc of a carefree kid, to wild teenager, messy fun twenties, to getting married, having kids, jobs, responsibility… but actually that's not life. Life is joy, grief, anxiety, love and small moments – all of the things in between these perceived milestones," says Marika.