Slipping Down the “Drains” with mary in the junkyard: British Band-to-Watch on Chaos, Connection, & Catharsis

Fast-rising London trio mary in the junkyard dive into the chaos, catharsis, and emotional underworld of their raw, poetic single “drains” – exploring connection, disconnection, and the tender rituals that hold us together.

Stream: “drains” – mary in the junkyard

It’s important to look after yourself and cook good meals and eat your broccoli.

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Slipping down the drain never sounded so intimate – or so alive.

mary in the junkyard’s latest single is a fragile, ferocious fever dream: A hard-hitting alternative outpouring built on hypnotic guitars, primal rhythms, and Clari Freeman-Taylor’s effervescent, emotionally searing voice. She sings hot on the mic in a kind of spellbound state – every breath quivering, every line teetering between confessional and cathartic. “drains” is intense. It’s raw. It’s rugged. It’s everything that makes mary in the junkyard one of the UK’s most exciting bands right now – a title they continue to earn, not chase.

I’ve been looking all over for you
In all of the drains of the city
I’ve been looking for words to describe you
I don’t even know what you are to me

You’re a bright light,
a white noise, a long corridor
A red moth in my room flying at my head
A wise woman at the bar crying, quiet
A gentle riot

Released as their first single of the year, “drains” finds the London-based trio of Freeman-Taylor (vocals, guitar), Saya Barbaglia (bass, viola), and David Addison (drums) digging deep – literally and figuratively.

“I am curious about the bowels of the city,” Freeman-Taylor tells Atwood Magazine. “All of the rain and the waste in London goes into mysterious sources, we have a wonderful array of pipes and underground networks below our feet! You get rained on and it disappears through the ground, we never see our piss and shit and rubbish ever again which is amazing! We don’t see what’s below but there are many pipes and caves, and my friend once said, ‘If you bury yourself, I will dig you out again.’ I wanted to immortalize it because it made me feel so warm.” That evocative phrase becomes the song’s haunting, heartfelt bridge – a moment of promise wrapped in anguish, vulnerability, and unconditional love: “If you bury yourself, I will dig you out again / That’s what lovers do.”

At once visceral and poetic, “drains” captures the overwhelming flood of city life and the quiet ache of longing for connection.

“This song is the most similar lyrically to our first song ‘Tuesday,’” Freeman-Taylor explains, “because it was written at a similar time, when I had just moved to London and was quite affronted with the pace of life – trying to stay afloat in a vast ocean of people. You find your way somehow and it’s wonderful to be part of. But it can be draining – maybe our energy falls out of us and goes down all of the pipes too.”

But I only came here to feel my body
I am a ghost, where are my bones?
How can you blame me for not being sorry?
My birthday card got lost in the post

And it’s a bright light, a white noise, a long corridor
A red moth in my room flying at my head
A wise woman at the bar crying, quiet
A gentle riot

There’s an almost sacred weight to the imagery she conjures: “You’re a bright light, a white noise, a long corridor / A red moth in my room flying at my head / A wise woman at the bar crying, quiet / A gentle riot.” It’s cryptic and kaleidoscopic – part love letter, part identity crisis, part existential scream.

“A lot of the lyrics are addressed to a mysterious and hidden someone – it is, I think about the search for connection with others,” Freeman-Taylor muses. “We can pass each other by so fast sometimes that real friendship is so so precious. I really value my conversations with people I love, and that can be hard to find good friends – especially at first when you move somewhere. Much love to the kindred spirits.”

And yes, there’s a scream – a real, guttural one – waiting at the end of the track. “I think it’s quite a cathartic rocky tune,” Freeman-Taylor says. “I hope people find it cathartic and fun and groovy and enjoy the scream at the end.”

But if you bury yourself, I will dig you out again
That’s what lovers do
If you hurt yourself, I will take you under my wing
I’m your lover and I’m loving you
If you bury yourself, I will dig you out again
That’s what lovers do
If you hurt yourself, I will take you under my wing
I’m your lover and I’m loving you
I’m your lover and I’m…

mary in the junkyard continue to defy easy categorization, embracing contradiction and curiosity as core tenets of their artistry.

“I think we all are really curious about so much music,” she reflects. “We have the rock trio setup usually, but we love to play a lot of different genres. I think that’s really going to come through on our album. Saya and I come from classical string musician backgrounds, but we really also love electronic music. On our upcoming EP, we’ve got a viola/cello/very sparse drums track about the River Thames. I would call our sound ‘playful and scratchy and emotional’ or ‘doing whatever we feel like at the time.’”

That freedom – so unapologetic and unfiltered – is part of what makes “drains” hit so hard – not just sonically, but spiritually. It’s a song about being lost and being found. About sinking and surviving. About friendship, food, city pipes, and the quiet rituals of care that tether us to each other. It’s messy and human and utterly magnetic. Come for the chaos; stay for the scream.

Tryna stay well fed but it’s exhausting
When nothing I do is from feeling
I feel like this every weekend
But I’ll get over it, I’ll get over it
I’m tryna stay well fed
but I’ve been slipping down the drain
And I’m talking to you now
but I don’t feel sane
I feel like this every day
But I’ll get over it, I’ll
aaarrrtggggghhhh

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:: stream/purchase drains here ::

:: connect with mary in the junkyard here ::

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Stream: “drains” – mary in the junkyard

A CONVERSATION WITH MARY IN THE JUNKYARD

Clari Freeman-Taylor: All of the rain and the waste in London goes into mysterious sources, we have a wonderful array of pipes and underground networks below our feet! You get rained on and it disappears through the ground – we never see our piss and shit and rubbish ever again which is amazing! This song is the most similar lyrically to our first song “Tuesday,” because it was written at a similar time, when I had just moved to London and quite affronted with the pace of life – trying to stay afloat in a vast ocean of people, and find connection and purpose is rather difficult, but you find your way somehow and it’s wonderful to be part of. But can be draining, maybe our energy falls out of us and goes down all of the pipes too.

Clari Freeman-Taylor: A lot of the lyrics are addressed to a mysterious and hidden someone – it is, I think, about the search for connection with others; we can pass each other by so fast sometimes that real friendship is so, so precious. I really value my conversations with people I love, and that can be hard to find good friends – especially at first when you move somewhere. Much love to the kindred spirits.

Clari Freeman-Taylor: If I didn’t eat enough for dinner as a child, my mum would say, “Finish your food or you will fall down the plughole.” I think this is where it comes from. It’s important to look after yourself and cook good meals and eat your broccoli.

Clari Freeman-Taylor: Thanks! I think we all are really curious about so much music, we have the rock trio setup usually but we love to play a lot of different genres, I think that’s really going to come through on our album. Saya and I come from classical string musician backgrounds, but we really also love electronic music. On our upcoming EP, we’ve got a viola/cello/very sparse drums track about the River Thames. I would call our sound ‘playful and scratchy and emotional’ or ‘doing whatever we feel like at the time.’

Clari Freeman-Taylor: I think it’s quite a cathartic rocky tune; I hope people find it cathartic and fun and groovy and enjoy the scream at the end.

 © Vittoria Pagliaro