Australian indie rock artist Angie McMahon shares the tales and life classes behind her ‘Mild Sides’ EP – an extension of her universally acclaimed sophomore album, constructed on poetry, uncooked emotion, and a deep reverence for music’s skill to heal.
Stream: ‘Mild Sides’ – Angie McMahon
I’m so grateful to be releasing music… doing these issues makes me really feel like I’m an actual particular person with an actual job, and never only a pile of feelings.
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Angie McMahon’s music has at all times felt like a quiet revelation – an intimate dialog between artist and listener, wrapped in uncooked lyricism and wealthy, unguarded emotion.
The Australian singer/songwriter (and two-time Atwood Editor’s Decide) earned widespread acclaim together with her sophomore album Mild, Darkish, Mild Once more, a file that resonated deeply with listeners and critics alike upon its late 2023 launch. Praised for her fantastically weak, unflinching songwriting and a cathartic, cinematic indie rock sound, the follow-up to 2019’s debut LP Salt discovered McMahon embarking on a musical journey of interior reckoning and subsequent redemption, delving into her personal darkness solely to (finally) discover her means again out once more.
A yr later, McMahon’s Mild Sides EP extends the world of Mild, Darkish, Mild Once more whereas creating its personal particular house. 5 beforehand unreleased songs, all written within the course of of creating the album and “born in the identical universe,” seize each the early levels of her album’s creation and the teachings she realized after its completion – weaving via themes of transformation, uncertainty, and acceptance.
I didn’t wish to keep the identical
I didn’t wish to hear the change stroll in
I didn’t wish to harm you and
It’s at all times going to begin and finish
With I didn’t need ache, with I used to be afraid
I wanted rewiring
And breaking this open
meant beginning a riot
My least favorite feeling
Is hurting somebody
’trigger I used to be sluggish at therapeutic
– “Untangling,” Angie McMahon
“Mild Sides is a group of songs that stay alongside Mild, Darkish, Mild Once more,” McMahon shares. “They didn’t match within the file and I didn’t know in the event that they’d be launched, but it surely feels proper to finish the chapter by letting these ones go… I hope these additional items give slightly additional color to the story.”
She provides, “It sort of bookends the expertise of the file. Among the writing is from the very early days, earlier than I knew what the album was attempting to say, and a number of the recording is from after the album was completed, after I had learnt methods to make studio periods extra free flowing and satisfying. So it sort of holds the beginnings and endings of some life classes.”
Launched September 2024 by way of Gracie Music / AWAL, Mild Sides is residence to a few of Angie McMahon’s strongest and transferring music so far.
Songs like “Newbie,” “Simply Like North,” and “Untangling” replicate private and emotional evolution, exploring ache as a path to progress, whereas “Interstate” unpacks the transition from unattached independence to romantic partnership, and “Take Up House” employs empathy as a method of understanding exterior views.
Atwood lately included “Untangling” in our year-end characteristic on the Greatest Songs of 2024, describing it as a masterclass in cinematic vulnerability: “Directly intimate and all-consuming, unfiltered and uncooked all through, it’s a cathartic confessional that doesn’t a lot swoop excessive, because it does unfold out throughout us. From the regular, percussive pulse of the drums and bass to a deeply expressive, effected, radiant electrical guitar melody, McMahon creates a world into which artist and viewers alike dwell in life’s depths.” Fastidiously, she picks open emotional scars, permitting her listeners into a personal remedy session the place she candidly acknowledges her personal perceived shortcomings and failings – and the way she finally overcame them as a way to persevere via hardship:
I dropped out of my outdated form
And the strikes that I made as much as twist
So I match some place
Now I elevate weights, and I really feel protected
I’m not so afraid
I’ve acquired one thing I’m happy with
Rising from one thing that I’m rising out of
It was a joint misadventure
And I’m untangling you from my centre
I’m untangling you from my centre
– “Untangling,” Angie McMahon
Whereas the EP could also be a companion to Mild, Darkish, Mild Once more, there’s no denying that Mild Sides carries its personal weight.
There’s a tenderness, a heat, and a self-awareness to those specific tracks that set them aside in her oeuvre, and but they’re additionally quintessential Angie McMahon: From finish to finish, she dwells within the lovely, gut-wrenching depths which have outlined her artistry from day one – placing an emotional chord via songs that ache brazenly and actually via moments of transition, progress, heartache, and self-discovery.
In our dialog, Angie McMahon invitations us additional into her world – one constructed on poetry, uncooked emotion, and a deep reverence for music’s skill to heal. Learn on under as she discusses the great thing about imperfection, the quiet energy of embracing change, and the tales behind these songs – from rock-bottom revelations to the magic of leaving a monitor unfinished, but full.
“I believe what I’m taking from this expertise in the mean time is a mixed sense of objective and gratitude and neighborhood,” she says with a smile.
Mild Sides is out now.
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A CONVERSATION WITH ANGIE MCMAHON
Atwood Journal: Angie, it’s nice to reconnect! How has Mild, Darkish, Mild Once more grown with you over the previous yr?
Angie McMahon: I adore it greater than I did! Like if you begin courting somebody and your first reminiscences are largely personal, however as soon as your relationship is sound you introduce them to your family and friends, you all begin making reminiscences collectively, and also you get to fall in love with them extra whereas they open up your world. I believe this file has expanded for me and stored making sense in new methods.
Do any of its tracks nonetheless resonate with you, nonetheless? Which songs proceed to face out?
Angie McMahon: My favourites from the start have been “Fish” and “Making It By means of,” and I believe that has stayed true, these ones maintain a particular place.
Right here you at the moment are, a yr later, with a really lovely new EP’s price of tracks. What’s the story behind Mild Sides?
Angie McMahon: Thanks a lot! These are sort of the B-sides, those that didn’t make it onto the album however have been inbuilt the identical world. We had the thought to place out a deluxe model of the album, however these 5 songs felt like they needed their very own highlight, and I preferred the thought of following an album with slightly sister EP as an alternative.
I perceive this file got here collectively kind of piecemeal, throughout and after the album’s periods. For you, what does this EP characterize, and what reminiscences does it conjure up if you look again on it?
Angie McMahon: It sort of bookends the expertise of the file. Among the writing is from the very early days, earlier than I knew what the album was attempting to say, and a number of the recording is from after the album was completed, after I had learnt methods to make studio periods extra free flowing and satisfying. So it sort of holds the beginnings and endings of some life classes.
These 5 songs felt like they needed their very own highlight, and I preferred the thought of following an album with slightly sister EP as an alternative.
I actually love the opening traces of “Newbie”: “I needed to attain the underside, begging on the door, praying it could open to who I used to be earlier than… Felt like I used to be dying, however I used to be simply being born.” What does this tune imply to you, and why open the file with it?
Angie McMahon: This one was written and recorded extra lately than the others, after shedding some pores and skin. I’ve discovered plenty of peace in this sort of Buddhist concept of rock-bottom, and the way complete hopelessness could be a level the place you begin to query all the things and at last free your self from some struggling.
Emma Louise (co-writer) and I have been reflecting on this lesson that issue is a part of the trail, and it’s a must to contact the middle of your ache to open into the subsequent model of your self. I beloved scripting this tune together with her, and I like the tune, it simply robotically felt like the suitable one to open with – I didn’t actually have to consider it!
I’d like to unpack the refrain with you: “Some are wild, some are blessed, some are form, some are stressed, some will take to be the winner. I’m at all times a newbie.” The place do you assume this mantra got here from, and the way do you interpret it?
Angie McMahon: We have been looking for an enlightened option to say that some persons are assholes, and that doesn’t imply it’s a must to be an asshole. For me it’s an invite to remain true to my values, irrespective of how challenged I’m by individuals.
It’s important to contact the middle of your ache to open into the subsequent model of your self.
A fast be aware about “Simply Like North” – I believe the road “You needed to be ugly earlier than you have been attractive” is one in all your all-time finest. It’s so highly effective, and it leaves me with loads to consider. Are the lyrics on this EP particularly some extent of satisfaction, for you?
Angie McMahon: Thanks! Yeah, I believe that could be a favorite for me, too! I do actually love the lyrics on the EP, I used to be studying extra poetry on the time and it’s a very good reminder to return and gas the mind with good phrases and artwork. I really feel like an empty properly in the mean time!
I actually, actually imagine that “Untangling” could be one in all your best songs, musically and lyrically; it’s only a weak, cinematic masterpiece. What was the method of writing “Untangling” like for you? Have been you continue to within the thick of it if you put ink to paper, or did you benefit from time and distance to really feel any bit faraway from the state of affairs?
Angie McMahon: I used to be so within the thick of it, I couldn’t determine the place to take the tune or methods to end it – I believe that’s why I sat on it. This untangling has felt like a traumatic fog and might be arduous to see via. I solely completed the tune within the studio as we have been recording it, within the studio between tour dates, as a result of we had a deadline and I needed to let it go!
You shut the file with the slow-burn “Interstate” and brooding, warbly “Take Up House.” Do you thoughts sharing a bit about these final two songs?
Angie McMahon: “Interstate “is the one tune of this chapter that’s really about my present companion, so I’m glad it will get to be out, I wrote that once we have been falling in love and I felt like I used to be abandoning an impartial season. After that, some unhappy issues occurred that impressed the remainder of the songs, so this one was written early and is the one one about that love story!
And “Take Up House” was impressed by a tune immediate from my proficient buddy Mimi Gilbert, in a songwriting membership that we’re a part of. The concept was to jot down from a perspective you normally don’t use, like perhaps the standpoint of the one who is hurting you. Mimi is such an empathetic particular person and highly effective author, and I believe if you convey empathy into songwriting, you might be reminded that we’re all experiencing a lot of the identical ache and frustration, which is simple to overlook.
It is a brief EP, but it surely’s a deeply impactful one. What do you hope listeners take away from Mild Sides, and what have you ever taken away from making it and now placing it out?
Angie McMahon: Possibly it’s not for the author to say what individuals take from the work, however I hope the songs change into a buddy to somebody, and a few good reminiscences might be made alongside them! It’s been an awesome train in imperfection, as a result of I didn’t have as a lot time to spend on the tiny particulars of those ones, which doesn’t actually matter – a tune is a tune and belongs on this planet when it’s completed.
I’ve felt so generously held by the individuals listening to my music and coming to reveals this previous yr, and I’m so grateful to be releasing music as properly – doing these issues makes me really feel like I’m an actual particular person with an actual job, and never only a pile of feelings. I believe what I’m taking from this expertise in the mean time is a mixed sense of objective and gratitude and neighborhood.
It’s been an awesome train in imperfection, as a result of I didn’t have as a lot time to spend on the tiny particulars.
In the event you have been to drag one or two life classes from the songs you’ve launched over the previous two years, what would they be?
Angie McMahon: God, there have been so many. Two of them are that there is no such thing as a avoiding struggling and alter, they’re a part of the trail, and {that a} self-compassion observe might be completely life-changing – and will also be cool and enjoyable!
Within the spirit of paying it ahead, who’re you listening to as of late that you’d suggest to our readers?
Angie McMahon: Annie-Rose Maloney’s “Maintain Me,” Mimi Gilbert’s “Police Checks,” Hannah McKittrick’s “Utensil,” Hurray for the Riff Raff’s “Buffalo,” Leif Vollebekk’s “Moon Canine,” Charlotte Cornfield’s “In Your Nook,” and Mallrat’s “Want On An Eyelash.”
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