Q&A: Ava McCoy Turns a New Page With “Time to Start (A New One)”
AN ODE TO A DIARY ONCE LOVED — Ava McCoy’s latest single, “Time to Start (A New One),” is a vibrant, pop-infused tapestry of the events that shaped the very fabric of her adolescence. The track explores the acute sense of sadness that accompanied the loss of her journal, an intimate written account of her high school and college years.
“Time to Start (A New One)” comes just over a year after the release of her own personal Bildungsroman: her debut album, Moss On The Ceiling, which also detailed how McCoy’s childhood informed her adolescent years. While the track explores an entirely new patchwork of indie-pop sounds, the two projects are stitched together with the same threads.
“Time to Start (A New One)” retains the gentle ambience that lingered at the back of Moss On The Ceiling, still incorporating an almost tactile undercurrent of nature. Tenderly placed amidst a sweet melody of hazy synths and soft drum beats, McCoy’s vocals on the track are angelic and comforting — a reminder of the warm, tranquil, and delicate environment created within her previous work.
Read on to dive deeper into an artist who is perpetually seeking creative expansion. Below, McCoy divulges more on her lost journal and the track its loss inspired and explores her creative processes, relative colors, and the places she wants to take her music.
LUNA: Congrats on “Time to Start (A New One)”! Can you tell us about some of the themes the lyrics dive into and what inspired you to write about them?
MCCOY: Thank you so much, and thank you for having me! I wrote “Time to Start (A New One)” after losing a really important journal I kept all throughout high school and into college. I’m not the best at consistent journaling, so it was a log of many intense growing experiences for me. I went on a road trip from Nashville to Boston with my friend Frances in the summer of 2021, and somewhere along the way I misplaced the journal. I was devastated and felt like a huge chunk of my life was out in the world for anyone to read. I wanted to take that time back and decided to start a new journal, despite not being able to close the chapter of my life on my own terms. Writing a song about that process helped me understand all the grief that comes with losing a record of your life.
LUNA: What was the creative process behind the single?
MCCOY: I wrote the song just me and my guitar — pretty much all the songs I’ve written over the past few years start out that way. I recorded most of my catalog with my friends Pearce Gronek and Fletcher Barton throughout college. We recorded this track in rooms spanning from Boston, Sedona, and Los Angeles. Honing an energetic soundscape gave the song a more hopeful overarching emotion, which Pearce and I worked on extensively to properly emulate. Fletcher mixed and mastered the track and helped breathe life and balance into the mix. I learned a lot about myself and how many forms a song can take before completion, thanks to making “Time to Start (A New One),” and took risks I never expected to take. It helped me break out of a traditional song structure, as well.
LUNA: “Time to Start (A New One)” is quite different from your previous music. What inspired you to dip into a more pop-infused sound?
MCCOY: As an artist I never want to get too comfortable, and I wanted to change my narrative on this next project. My musical background is heavily rooted in folk and Americana, but that all took a turn when [I was] discovering new artists throughout my songwriting process.
I also took a turntable techniques class in college and leaned into my love of more upbeat, dance-inspired music. I was really taken by Imogen Heap’s vocal style and versatility; she incorporates elements of autotune and electronic production in her sound. Dora Jar’s incredible blend of influences, from folk to electronic, also had a huge impact on this process for me, and her honesty in her writing helped me lean into the storytelling aspect of the track.
LUNA: If an artist were to paint “Time to Start (A New One),” how would you envision this painting? Which colors do you think would be best to use?
MCCOY: I filmed some promotional videos with my friend Maria, and we used a projector as the centerpiece of the song. Projection allows you to pull inspiration from anywhere online and tie it into a narrative. We used clips of forest fires, cityscapes, nature, birds, and old medical videos. I wanted to create a collage of events and colors that felt prevalent in my life when I kept my original journal. I lived through and evacuated a forest fire as a kid, have grown up in a big city, find most of my solace and happiness in nature, and loved the retro feel of old bird videos and lessons used in health classes. There’s an overarching timelessness and nostalgia in all of these moments.
Having gone to high school in a rural place, I felt that nature and educational videos brought that point home. Red, dark green, vibrant blue, and orange were the stand-out colors, and I could see a collage being made of all these elements with a glue stick and a big poster board. This implies that you could continue adding to the piece as time goes on, because new collage scraps can be added to continue the story. (That’s if you don’t lose the piece, of course, which would definitely be on-brand for this song.)
LUNA: We interviewed you just over a year ago for your debut album, Moss On The Ceiling, which was a really beautiful project. How would you say you’ve evolved — creatively or personally — since then?
MCCOY: Thank you! Moss On The Ceiling feels like a time capsule of my years in college. I was feeling excited, full of life, meeting new friends, losing friends, unsure of the future, and was processing heavy adolescent emotions. Creatively, I have evolved immensely, and those songs were written during a very challenging and transformative time of my life. There’s an overarching sadness and nostalgia throughout the album, and I wanted to talk about similar emotions with my new music but with a more positive approach. I feel that I pigeon-holed myself into a trend of writing sad songs for a while, which bled into my day-to-day feelings. Recently I’ve been finding tons of strength in channeling the experience of being in my early twenties with heavier, indie-rock–inspired instrumentation, with elements of indie-pop as well. I’m having fun trying anything and everything, and I find new strengths every time I write something out of my comfort zone.
LUNA: What artists are dominating your playlists at the moment?
MCCOY: The new Unknown Mortal Orchestra album has been on repeat for weeks now. Their sound is so timeless and immersive. Lô Borges’ self-titled album from 1972 has elements of bossa nova, funk, soul, and dreamy folk. I can’t get enough of that record. Cleo Sol has been so inspiring to me for years, and she writes songs that feel like immediate classics. Her album Mother is an ode to motherhood. It’s a really empowering project infused with unconditional love. I love to people-watch on the subway and listen to Piero Piccioni’s discography. Madeline Kenney makes such interesting, lush music — her track “Wasted Time” was hugely inspiring to me while recording this project. I’ve been loving soulful music and diving into classic albums I’ve never explored as of late.
LUNA: Do you have any goals you hope to achieve within the year?
MCCOY: I guess this is the first time I’m putting this in writing, but I’m releasing an EP this July through Acrophase Records called Closer to the Bugs. The singles that are on this project are so different from anything I’ve ever done, and I’m hoping to connect with a greater audience online and through live shows upon its release. One of my biggest goals is to go on tour as a supporting act at some point this year with my band. I’m laying the building blocks for my future as we speak, and have been working odd jobs for a few months now to help me reach that goal. I’ve been writing so much, more than I ever have, and have been home-recording demos in my free time. I’m trying to allow my creativity to flow naturally, to put out work I’m deeply proud of, and help people find a sense of release in my music. I also want to take myself on a solo trip somewhere — anywhere!
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