Maris

MARIS plays the Cactus Cafe on Wednesday, October 14, her first Austin date in a while. She's a singer-songwriter working in indie pop with a clear 80s pop streak running through it, and this is a headline set, so the whole night is built around her songs.

If you're not familiar with the venue, the Cactus Cafe is a listening room on the University of Texas at Austin campus, located in the Texas Union at 2308 Whitis Ave. It's been around since 1979 and has a long history of hosting songwriters and solo acts, so it's the kind of place where you're meant to sit and actually listen rather than talk over the music. It's an all-ages venue, which means you can bring whoever you want.

MARIS's sound sits right in that indie pop pocket, and the 80s pop influence is a good way to get a sense of where she's coming from—think of the melodic, synth-leaning pop of that era filtered through a modern indie lens. As a singer-songwriter, she writes and performs her own material, so the set is her songs from start to finish.

The show runs from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, with doors opening at 6:30 PM. If you're planning to grab a drink or a table before things get going, that hour between doors and the start gives you plenty of room. It's a Wednesday night, so it's a mid-week outing rather than a weekend one.