HAMPSHIRE folk singer Marika Hackman had her songs ready for release on her debut album when she last played York in November, but she is more than happy that We Slept At Last has only emerged in the spring. Like a daffodil.

“A lot of it’s up to the label, but it’s a good time for an album release; hope is in the air,” says Marika, whose new single, Ophelia, a tragic story of spurned love,will follow on the Dirty Hit label on April 27.

At 23, the first blossoming of a new songwriting and multi-instrumentalist talent on an album is an apogee for artist and new audience alike.

“It’s funny, it’s like I know this is the biggest moment but because I’ve been sitting with these songs for so long, you forget it’s all new for people who haven’t heard them,” says Marika, on the eve of her Good Friday concert in York.

We Slept At Last was preceded by a trilogy of EPs, That Iron Taste, Sugar Blind and Deaf Heat, from which not one of the 13 songs graduated to the album.

“It was one of those things where I decided not to put any of my old music on it; I had almost enough songs for an album from the EPs, but I wrote 12 new songs for it, which made complete sense in my mind as the EPs were from a different time in my development.” Marika reasons.

“It would have been clunky to have used some of the earlier songs, so instead I’m presenting a fluent, coherent new piece.

“My voice has changed too. It’s a bit lower now; it was a very pure, choirboy voice at the start, but now it’s more husky from wear and tear and it sounds more confident too. I would get so nervous when I was first performing that I wouldn’t be able to eat or drink in case it affected my performance.”

Working with producer Charlie Andrew, her long-time producer, Marika took time to decide on the right track order for We Slept At Last.

“Once the songs were written and recorded, I changed the order around, though I always knew Drown would open it and I wanted a calm finish with Let Me In and the middle song had to be a moment of calm; they were always the goalposts,” she says. “But even choosing the length of silence between tracks was important. Those moments are moments for breathing.”