Mary in the Junkyard Drop Floaty Single “Crash Landing” Ahead of Debut Album ‘Role Model Hermit’
Who knew a crash landing could be so dreamy? Mary in the Junkyard has dropped “Crash Landing,” their first single from their recently-announced debut album Role Model Hermit scheduled for release on July 3rd via AMF Records.
The offbeat rock trio from London—Clari Freeman-Taylor (vocals, guitar, harmonium), Saya Barbaglia (bass, viola), and David Addison (drums)—formed in 2022 and have released a smattering of tracks that have garnered quite a bit of attention. Their top tracks have over one million streams, and the band supported Wet Leg on their 2025 MOISTURIZER tour. Freeman-Taylor, who has also released music under the name Clari FT, played in Second Thoughts with Addison before founding Mary in the Junkyard. This latest project is fuller than Freeman-Taylor’s stripped-down, lyric-forward work underneath Clari FT and less pop-inspired than Second Thoughts. Mary in the Junkyard’s sound is not quite moody and not quite ecstatic, living and breathing somewhere in-between.
Together as Mary in the Junkyard, the trio have hit the sweet spot of emotive and hazy with an edge of oddness. “Crash Landing” evokes a slow-motion fall towards disaster, like the school science experiment where you’d make a parachute for an egg, throw it from the top of a stairwell, and cross your fingers that it didn’t break into yolky gore on the ground. The track’s bendy, swoopy melody is perfectly matched by the accompanying music video featuring undulating waves, twisting flocks of birds, and flowing dancing mirrored by shadows. A bright, reverby rhythm flits against the texture of strings and harmonium. Freeman-Taylor’s vocals dip low and straightforward before soaring to a whine. It makes sense that the multi-instrumentalist is also a cellist because her voice is so clear and controlled it sounds like she swallowed the instrument. The sweetness of her vocals makes the repeated offbeat refrain “you opened up like a coconut” all the more memorable.
Mary in the Junkyard has a UK tour scheduled for this summer ahead of the release of Role Model Hermit. Until you can catch them live, listen to “Crash Landing” below.
