Madeline Kenney

Madeline Kenney – The Same Again: ANRM (Tiny Telephone Session) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 34:57 minutes | 669 MB | Genre: Indie Pop, Dreampop, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Carpark Records

The Same Again: ANRM (Tiny Telephone Session) places Madeline Kenney in a light of which many have never seen before — unless you caught her immaculate mid-pandemic livestream performance for Outside Lands’ Inside Lands at the Saint Joseph’s Art Society, that is. Recorded at Tiny Telephone in Oakland, CA in just one day, Kenney rerecorded her latest studio album A New Reality Mind in full with only a grand and an open upright piano (aside from the occasional inclusion of backing vocalists).

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Madeline Kenney – A New Reality Mind (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 36:18 minutes | 362 MB | Genre: Indie Pop, Dreampop, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Carpark Records

In the quiet surrounding the pandemic, Madeline Kenney made sonic sketches in the basement studio she shared with her then-partner. She arranged phrases that called her—the sharp knife of a synth cutting a path along a blooming arpeggio, drums stuttering firm and tight. Working this way, she amassed a collection of songs she had no particular aims for. Some formed her 2021 EP Summer Quarter, others languished.

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Madeline Kenney – Perfect Shapes (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 37:39 minutes | 684 MB | Genre: Indie, Dream Pop, Female Vocal, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Carpark Records

Following her dreamy, artfully textured debut, 2017’s Night Night at the First Landing, by about a year, Perfect Shapes finds a more explorative Madeline Kenney, both stylistically and timbrally. Venturing into bolder indie electronica and time-shifting experimental rock, the album was produced by Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and features more prominent synths and electronics. Both women played multiple instruments on the record. While no track is representative of the whole album, opener “Overhead” (the one song here produced by Ben Sloan rather than Wasner) establishes its contrasting timbres and mix of lyricism and atmosphere. Clanging, industrial percussion is combined with muted drums, spacy synths are joined by rumbling guitar tones, and twinkling keyboards and guitar float over a distinct, funky bass on a song that wonders “So now what’s the light I’m living in?/No sound, just the colors coming in.” The quirkier, more syncopated “Cut Me Off” seems descended from Talking Heads, while the drifting “I Went Home” offers borderline jammy rock. Elsewhere, the playful, surprising “The Flavor of the Fruit Tree” borrows from woozy alt-R&B, bleepy synth pop, and stylized vocal-era pop. With the exception of Kenney’s consistently breezy, warm vocals, altogether, the album comes off as unpredictable as that sounds, especially compared to her relatively intimate debut. However, for those who aren’t put off by its favoring crafted texture and melody over mood or structure, it’s also absorbing, offering layers to uncover with repeat listens. Trivia of note: Perfect Shapes is Wasner’s first time producing music that isn’t her own. – Marcy Donelson

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