Gia Margaret and Maya Hawke’s New Albums Arrive in Tandem, Revealing a Shared Search for Joy

Gia Margaret and Maya Hawke released their fourth albums just days apart in late April. The close timing is not a collaboration but a coincidence that underlines how both songwriters are pushing toward similar musical territory. Margaret’s Higher Place came out on Jagjaguwar. Hawke’s Maitreya Corso followed a week later via Mom+Pop.

The records share a quiet affinity for 1970s folk lineage. Hawke’s album moves between the synthetic textures of The Postal Service and the warm, woody sounds of Laurel Canyon. She channels Judee Sill, a touchstone she has in common with Margaret, and builds what she calls a treasure map of references across the songs. Margaret’s writing on Higher Place steps beyond the instrumental piano work of her previous album Romantic Piano, the record that first drew Hawke to her music. Hearing Hawke sing made Margaret want to use her own voice more directly.

The conversation between the two, published by The Line of Best Fit, traces how they each arrived at a kind of hard-won optimism in their craft. Hawke distills it into a line from the closing track of Maitreya Corso: “I am falling in love with my life.” Margaret resonates with that sentiment. It’s a search for joy that lands without naivety, earned through the discipline of writing and recording.