PHOTOS
Photos by David Plakke.
AUDIO
Download MP3 or WAV
PRESS RELEASE
Mercy Row Releases Haunting New Single “Unknown”
Originally shared — then removed — as a raw social media performance, the deeply personal song found new meaning when survivors of the Epstein case began telling their stories.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 30, 2026
Mercy Row returns September 18 with “Unknown,” a haunting two-minute song about what we carry out of childhood without ever fully understanding it. Set against a spare, cinematic arrangement, the song looks back at fear, memory and survival from the strange distance of adulthood – when what once seemed normal can finally be seen for what it was.
“Unknown” began not as a planned release, but as a raw performance Farley recorded for social media. She nearly left it there. Feeling exposed by what she had shared, she ultimately took the post down and wasn't certain she would ever record the song properly. But hearing survivors connected to the Epstein case speak publicly about their experiences changed her perspective: what had felt almost unbearably personal began to feel larger than her own story.
Mercy Row is the new orchestral pop project of singer-songwriter Mary Ann Farley. Blending cinematic textures with raw, intimate songwriting, Mercy Row moves between darkness and light—haunting melodies anchored by spiritual depth and emotional clarity.
Farley first emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, releasing two independent albums under her own name and earning national press attention for her distinctive voice and lyrical candor. Hailed in a Billboard Critics’ Choice pick of Daddy’s Little Girl, she was again featured nine months later in the magazine’s lead cover story of NYC’s top ten unsigned acts. After 20 years away from the spotlight, Mercy Row marks both a continuation and an evolution: art-pop shaped by experience, restraint, and a deepened sense of purpose.
The songs were written during a period of serious illness, an experience that informs the project’s engagement with mortality, grace, and what it means to remain fully alive. Yet Mercy Row is not defined by illness. It is defined by presence.
Rooted in orchestral pop but unafraid of rock dynamics or quiet piano confessionals, the music explores suffering without spectacle and hope without sentimentality. Each song stands as its own world—raw, atmospheric, and unguarded. Mercy Row is not a farewell. It is an insistence on beauty.
###
Hoboken, NJ’s most valuable export since Sinatra serves up an archly catchy collection of bubblegoth with lyrical barbs fit for Noel Coward and musical hooks fit for the Beatles...From techno-country (“Crush”) to Gypsy grunge (“I’m Your Girl”) to pure ear ambrosia (“Buried”), you owe yourself a listen to the indie queen of meta-pop’s latest morph. —Adam McGovern, Yahoo Internet Life
Downtown New York-based singer/songwriter Mary Ann Farley debuts with an album that showcases her sharp songwriting, her ear for clever arrangements, and a voice that runs the gamut from a vulnerable quaver to a full-throated wail--sometimes in the same line...Whether supported by a full band or just her guitar, Farley comes across as a vital new talent.—Paul Verna, Billboard (Critics' Choice pick)
With her edgy soprano and bold arrangements, adding a spicy cabaret flavor to her haunting folk-pop, Farley creates in each song a distinct little world where joy and peril live hand in hand.
--Ben Horowitz, The Star-Ledger
There are stories in her music, but they are private ones; her characters show but don't tell. We meet them instead in their pondering aftermaths, musing brokenly about what has gone before and how it got them here. —Linus Gelber, Music Dish
Her songs are replete with beautiful, bluesy moments in which Farley the lyricist creates images of life's hardships and turns them over to Farley the vocalist, who presents them as if they were her most glorious achievements--taking ownership of her pain and making damned sure everyone who hears her music feels that pain too.--Sean Glennon, Valley Advocate
SELECTED REVIEWS FROM
MARY ANN FARLEY’S PREVIOUS RELEASES
Daddy’s Little Girl & My Life of Crime
CONTACT
646-820-8299
mercyrowmusic@gmail.com
Click here for Mary Ann Farley's
archived reviews.
Video is currently unlisted but viewable. It goes public 9/18.
"Unknown" was written as a short social media performance; I never intended for it to be a recorded original song as it's only two minutes long. But it felt so raw I ultimately deleted it, yet I'd luckily had the sense to record it on my DAW at the same time. My decision to release "Unknown" as a song happened when the Epstein files' victims came forward with their abuse allegations and I realized that the song might have relevance beyond my own personal experience.
