Hello Marianne and welcome to College Radio Charts! How was your summer?
Busy! Busy! Busy! It passed in the blink of an eye, which is just fine with me! Florida summers are practically like a dreary, storm-ridden monsoon season, and I’m currently working in a funeral home. There were moments that felt like a contemporary Southern Gothic novel—staring out the window as the sky turned black and lightning struck nearby, while tending to memorial services. You could say the spooky season came early for me!
How did you get your start in music? Did you come from a musical family?
Yes! My grandmother, Dawn Plenge, was Hungarian and, when in the mood, would show off her opera skills at family get-togethers. My mother, Nancy, is a pianist who was accepted to Juilliard and, with her dainty little hands, manages to indulge the family in some Rachmaninoff from time to time. My grandfather, William Plenge, played clarinet in a jazz group in the 1930s and ’40s before he was deployed as a German translator for the POWs in WWII.
We couldn’t afford cable TV growing up, so our parents entertained us kids with VHS tapes of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, which we watched over and over again. I recently started revisiting those musicals to see if they were as wonderful as I remembered, and they sure are! The Scottish actor who played “Curly” in the motion picture version of Oklahoma!, Gordon MacRae, had such a beautiful voice and stage presence. I’m currently on the hunt for his records after recently re-watching the film.
What are some of your earliest musical memories and who were some of your early influences?
My father once brought home a free upright piano for my mother when we were in elementary school. I remember when he opened the wooden lid, a cloud of creamy, fluttering moths took to the air inside our house. I had the pleasure of hearing my mother play her favorite classical repertoire as well as songs she had written herself. Apparently, these instrumental pieces were from one of the musicals she composed as a teenager in Bergen County, New Jersey.
As a child who frequently lost herself in the fantasy worlds of Rodgers and Hammerstein, I was in awe that she had written full musicals. My parents once took me to an electronics store while I was in kindergarten and told me I could pick out one toy. As a five-year-old, I chose well—I requested a Casio SK-5 with the tiny sampler in it. The keyboard and I were inseparable. Soon I realized I could take an interview tape recorder, buy blank cassettes from the dollar store (everything really was a dollar then), and record myself. I must have written dozens of songs, usually attempts at musical comedy.
When my friends came over, we would host our own radio show and record hours of nonsense, peppered with joke songs (some I still remember!). This kind of “play” continued into my teenage years when I met Donna Bailey and we formed our electro-goth girl duo Shell. We began recording albums in the same exact format—synthesizers, cassettes, and the interview recorder. I miss the freedom of just throwing the recorder on the carpet, punching down the two black plastic keys, firing up the cheap synthesizers, and seeing what happened.
We would pair melodies with poems from our teen goth journals and sometimes create full albums in a weekend. Man, do I miss those days!
The new album, Marzanna, marks your first release in seven years. What finally pulled you back into the studio after such a long break?
The COVID shutdowns—and also online harassment! Lol. I’m totally serious. Some stranger decided to troll my music pages and even the public posts of some of my fans. My unshakable sense of “I’ll show you…” sent me on a trajectory that’s only gained momentum. I finished a horror-fantasy novel (to be released under a pen name) and I already have lots of new songs for another all-original album. Go ahead, harass me! Harass the hell out of me! I need to finish the next album!
This album almost didn’t happen—you’ve mentioned the “digital oblivion” of hard drives crashing and years of delays. How close did you actually come to abandoning the project altogether?
MANY times! So much happened over the last few years—traumatic and repetitive hurricane damage, for one. We’ve had four direct hurricane hits on our town in Southwest Florida. And then there was the suicide of someone very close to me—unique and unforgettable. I never felt such intense emotional pain. Weeks after that, we were hit by two major hurricanes, losing power and internet for nearly a month, which of course made it impossible to finish any compositions.
But when the electricity was out, I took to writing. I just kept going. There’s that quote: “When you find yourself in hell, keep going.”
You’ve interpreted covers throughout your career, but this is the first time you’ve fully devoted yourself to the form. What made you want to dive into a covers record now?
I think it was the passing of David Bowie. I felt like the world would never be the same. I had posted my version of “As the World Falls Down” from Labyrinth in 2015, and I just had this burning desire to record versions of songs I loved so much. There were almost three David Bowie songs on the album! One was even recorded with sitar and tabla. Now that I think about it, I HAVE to finish and release that one—maybe on the CD version. There’s so much I can add to a re-release!
Congratulations on hitting the Top 10 in downloads and streaming on the NACC charts on August 12, 2025—a first for both you and Abaton Book Company. What did that milestone mean to you?
I felt like I was finally part of the present “scene.” I believe it was the first time so many tracks were downloaded by college radio. Since I had a stroke of luck as an artist in the late ’90s and early 2000s, I always felt like I was borrowing from the novelty of the past. There’s some guilt and shame in that for me, though I’m not sure why!
With the next original album, I want it to be the best thing I’ve ever recorded. I already have a working title and some great tracks. And, to contradict myself, the new songs feel like a grown- up version of the surrealistic, psychedelic curiosities that birthed Afraid of Me.
Gordon Raphael—best known for his work with The Strokes and Regina Spektor— mixed two tracks, “I’m Deranged” and “You’re My Thrill.” What was that collaboration like?
Gordon lives in the UK, so we often had our meetings of the minds on video chat. He has this warm, sparkling, friendly disposition that leaves me feeling like I’ve gained something from the interaction, rather than feeling drained, as I have with some other collaborations. Gordon was always honest, encouraging independence and risks. He never pushed his own style. Collaborating with him felt like an introspective, post-ego-death trip. He’s a wizard at helping you get your magic back.
Kate Bush, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Siouxsie and the Banshees—you’ve chosen giants. Was it daunting to approach songs with such towering legacies, or did that challenge fuel you?
Yes, it was absolutely daunting. I still listen to the tracks with vicious self-criticism. I can’t even enjoy some of them because I want to redo, remix, re-record everything a million times. It feels like a torturous outer ring of a lesser hell.
On Marzanna, your phrasing feels sculptural—deliberate, dramatic, and intensely atmospheric. How do you approach inhabiting someone else’s lyrics while still making them your own?
To be honest, it felt like sculpting into an unforgiving surface of stone. A slip in the wrong direction was disastrous. The compositions took a million tiny, dexterous hits of a mallet. Sometimes the songs had to be rebuilt from the ground up.
“Stella Maris” finds you singing in German with Christian Correa. What was it like stepping into another language?
“Stella Maris” is one of the most romantic songs I’ve ever heard, and the music video by EN was perfect for it. They go hand-in-hand—a couple dying to be reunited, ready to scour the world in search of a love they think is lost, when in fact their lover is just in the next room. They feel “worlds apart.”
“Both Sides Now,” with Katie Lo on harp, feels like one of the most intimate moments on the record. What does Joni Mitchell’s song mean to you personally?
When recording the song, I was going through a traumatic health event and forced the takes out of myself. To me, the song is about taking the little things in life for granted and believing life will unfold exactly as you plan. There’s that old saying: “While you are planning, God is laughing.” Sometimes I feel like I don’t understand God’s plan at all, but I still have to trust it and go on.
With contributions from musicians all over the world—Norway’s Sonisk Blodbad, Italy’s Gianluca Manfredonia, and others—Marzanna has an international soul. How did working remotely and across borders impact the album’s texture?
Collaborating with these artists was such a fulfilling experience. It’s incredible to describe a concept to a professional and have them just get it and deliver. They make it look—and sound— so easy! I MUST do it more in the future. I’d love to find artists who play Middle Eastern instruments, and hopefully even someone who plays the Glass Armonica. That’s one of the most beautiful instruments I’ve ever heard.
Any dream collaborators you’d like to work with?
I have a working list of artists who should remix the covers! I’m enthralled by the idea of a collaborative covers project with different mixes. The tracks have so much potential and deserve fun new interpretations.
When you think back to your earliest recordings with Abaton Book Company in the late ’90s, how does Marzanna connect with that young avant-pop chanteuse?
Honestly, the covers album felt like a cognitive and creative exercise to step back into the strange world-building of Afraid of Me and Man-Made Girl. The new songs whisper “Welcome back” to the unfettered subconscious realm of poetic soundscapes and auditory “trips” that existed before adulthood got its clutches in me. It feels good to be back.
Now that you’ve reimagined other people’s songs, do you feel inspired to return to your own songwriting—or has this reshaped how you’ll approach original music?
Yes! Every time I sat down to warm up at the keyboard and microphone, something new came out. I have nearly a hundred potential concepts waiting to become songs. I’m not exaggerating— I just got another low disk-space warning this morning!
With Marzanna out in the world and receiving so much attention, are live performances —or even a tour—on the horizon?
I absolutely must play in Europe! I think I’ll make that dream happen in 2026. I’ve been invited to Norway and have good friends and family with places to stay in Bavaria and Southern Italy. You have to seize the opportunities when they’re there—things change so quickly, and you can’t drag your feet. Adventure awaits on the other side of the pond. Excelsior!
Thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Where is the best place for people to go to find out more about you and your music?
All my releases on are Bandcamp: https://mariannenowottny.bandcamp.com/music
Follow me on Instagram @marianne.nowottny and @abatonbookcompany I also have a site: www.mariannenowottnymusic.com.
