Q&A: Maria Lane’s “If You Touch Me” Speaks to a New Generation of Yearners
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY STARLY LOU RIGGS ☆
Graceful and ghostly, Brooklyn-based artist Maria Lane is back with her sophomore album Kiss Me, I’m Haunted. Deeply intimate and raw, Lane’s sound harks to the likes of Joni Mitchell while drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Lizzy McAlpine and Phoebe Bridgers. Crooning, longing and reaching out for someone to hold, Lane’s work seeks to be seen in a world full of glazed eyes and short attention spans.
Lane’s work is personal and thoughtful. “If You Touch Me” is about modern dating, the fleeting feelings of casual hook-ups and is a mournful cry for romantics. It reads like a diary being sung aloud, as if vocalizing one’s dreams might make them come true. Lane’s connection to music is clear, utilizing it as a raw form of communication to express her innermost thoughts—something Lane has done since her childhood years, growing up around piano and guitar. Ultimately, there are some things that just cannot be conveyed simply in words. In an age where casualness is glorified and people are often resigned to a simple swipe of “left” or “right,” Lane is putting herself out there to say that she wants a deep and lasting connection.
Lane opened up to Luna about intimacy, creation and how she’s grown as an artist.
LUNA: In your Instagram bio, you define yourself as a “storyteller, yearner.” This comes through vividly in your sound and style, particularly with “If You Touch Me,” which feels like an anthemic longing for affection. What does yearning mean to you in this day and age?
MARIA LANE: Yearning, to me, is a deep, aching longing for something, for someone, or for a feeling that always seems just out of reach. You can yearn for someone you’re absolutely mad for—whether you’re together or not. Most of the time, yearning lives in the things we don’t have access to.
I think our generation could use more of that softness again. We need to bring it back—letters, poems, words of affirmation, devotion. Romance that takes its time. Yearning reminds us to feel deeply, and not be afraid of it.
LUNA: All your songs seem to reach into the most intimate sides of people. Do you write mainly from personal experience?
MARIA LANE: Absolutely. Every song I’ve written comes from something I’ve lived or felt deeply. Writing is my way of having the conversations I can’t have out loud. It’s its own language, one that lets me say the things I never got to say.
LUNA: “If You Touch Me” has some strikingly direct lyrics, sung over gentle, almost aching folk guitar and vocals. It starts out minimal, reaching for someone’s comforting touch, and for them to stay. What inspired this song?
MARIA LANE: I wanted it to feel like a pull, like a hand reaching out into the dark. I’ve been single for a year now. Getting back into dating has felt like a revolving door of brief connections. “If You Touch Me” comes from that place of vulnerability, knowing you could be ghosted, replaced, or forgotten, but still wanting to hold on. It’s about the exhaustion of starting over when something actually means something. When you find someone who stirs something real in you, that fear of losing it can be overwhelming.
LUNA: Sonically, your music feels incredibly intimate. Do you create mostly in your room? Where do your songs tend to find you?
MARIA LANE: Yes, most of my songs are written in my bedroom. That space feels safe enough to unravel in. My songs usually come from experience, but also from imagining what could’ve been. I write from the in-between of what’s happened and what I wish could happen.
LUNA: How long have you been playing music? How did it first come into your life?
MARIA LANE: I’ve been playing music since I was a child. My parents have a piano in their house and I would spend hours exploring sounds and melodies. My dad also plays guitar, so I grew up surrounded by oldies and folk music. Later in 2019, I taught myself guitar. Music has always been my truest form of communication. It’s how I process emotion. I feel most myself when I’m singing or playing.
LUNA: Who do you feel your music is for?
MARIA LANE: It’s for the sensitive souls. The ones who feel everything a little too deeply. For the people who love poetry and Sylvia Plath, who find beauty in the melancholy of autumn. For those who’ve known abandonment but still choose to love wholeheartedly. It’s for people who crave real connection, romantics in a world that often settles for casualness.
LUNA: Who or what inspires you, in life, in music, and beyond?
MARIA LANE: I’m endlessly inspired by art in all its forms. Musically, right now it’s Radiohead and Jeff Buckley. I’m drawn to watching films and reading books that resonate with me and teach me things. I'm inspired by people, by love, by the ache of losing it, and by how those experiences shape who we become.
LUNA: Music doesn’t tend to exist in a vacuum. Who helped bring this track to life? Can you tell us about the production process or your collaborators?
MARIA LANE: My producer Justin completely understood the vision and helped bring it to life in such a beautiful way. He came up with the steel-pedal outro you hear, which I adore. It feels like the song is exhaling. I also love the moment before the second verse when the vocals crescendo and the beat drops. It captures that emotional release. Justin and I love experimenting with unconventional textures. He actually used a Nespresso pod as a shaker. It adds this subtle warmth and intimacy. He’s so talented, and we work very intuitively together. And of course, the incredible Joey Messina-Doerning mastered the track.
LUNA: LUNA chatted with you almost exactly a year ago about your release “35 Days.” Back then, you mentioned you hoped to release your debut album in the following year. It looks like that came true! How does it feel? How far have you come since last year?
MARIA LANE: Yes! It’s so nice to be back again. Last year I released my debut album Black and Blue in October 2024, and I’ll always be grateful for how that record resonated with people. Kiss Me, I’m Haunted is my second album and it feels like such an evolution. I actually had a completely different idea for my sophomore project, but these songs just arrived. They demanded to exist. I wrote them over a few months this year, and they became this confessional, cinematic story about intimacy and loss. I’ve grown so much as a writer since “35 Days.” I used to hold back, and now I just let everything out. It’s specific, there’s no censoring.
LUNA: What’s next for Maria Lane?
MARIA LANE: I want to keep growing my listeners and building my world. I have so many album concepts saved, it’s hard for me to slow down because I’m always writing and I think there’s something to be said about wanting to release music when you are in a space of creating and writing a lot. I’d love to open for another artist on tour, especially in New York. Even one night at Brooklyn Steel would mean the world. Mostly, I just want to keep making art that feels alive and helps people feel less alone.
