A New Reality Mind, by Madeline Kenney

A New Reality Mind

by Madeline Kenney

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ø23 To be transparent...I REALLY liked Signals, and then lost track of Madeline...recently, I was reading of her worries about "putting off" or "alienating" fans with her subsequent efforts. Please don't Madeline! This album is SOLID...I won't lose track again. Favorite track: It Carries On.

samueldahle Probably the most impactful album of the year for me. Each track has, at one point, confused me and at another, been my favorite on repeat. The Tiny Telephone Session is such a beautiful accompaniment. Favorite track: Expectations.

James B Truly one of the most unique artists out there continuing to evolve her sound in unexpected and powerful ways! Favorite track: I Drew A Line.

scottsneeds Her songs are gorgeous, immersive dreamscapes. Favorite track: Leaves Me Dry.

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1.	Intro 00:38	buy track
2.	Plain Boring Disaster 02:01	buy track
3.	Superficial Conversation 02:54	buy track
4.	Reality Mind 03:41	buy track
5.	I Drew A Line 03:43	buy track
6.	It Carries On 04:07	buy track
7.	Red Emotion 03:17	buy track
8.	The Same Again 03:42	buy track
9.	HFAM 04:11	buy track
10.	Leaves Me Dry 03:56	buy track
11.	Expectations 04:02	buy track

about

UNTIL JANUARY 15th, 2024, BUY 'A NEW REALITY MIND' AND RECEIVE 'THE SAME AGAIN: ANRM (TINY TELEPHONE SESSION)' FREE.

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.

But in 2022, Kenney’s partner left suddenly and without warning, plunging her into the solitary act of untangling what happened. In the wake of her ensuing depression, she revisited these songs and found in them something prescient. She’d already laid the foundation for A New Reality Mind.

That her relationship’s end came without warning is only half true, though. The warnings were in the feelings and fears that inspired Kenney’s critically-acclaimed third album, Sucker’s Lunch (2020), which was co-produced by Jenn Wasner (Flock of Dimes) and centered around the idea of flinging oneself freely into the seemingly-assured destruction of new love, come what may.

If sonically Sucker’s Lunch was letting yourself be pulled into the warm bath of a good story, A New Reality Mind reflects the harsh light of truth coming to break the spell. But as sobering as morning light can be, there’s brilliance to it, too. To see in the clarity of day is a gift. A revolution. Rather than reckoning with love lost, the songs on A New Reality Mind grapple with the self that chose to fall. “I guess I only needed to look twice / Reflected in my attitude, my constant compromise,” Kenney sings on “Red Emotion,” the musical landscape screeching and gasping around her observations of how she made herself small to keep the dream of love alive.

These notions of sight and vision pervade the record as Kenney stands before the infinity mirror of selves she’s been to preserve bonds in her life. On “I Drew a Line,” Kenney contends with the stories she’s told herself to keep plodding along, and the way those stories shape her perceived reality. She invokes John Berger’s Ways of Seeing—“Everything around the image is part of its meaning,” we hear him say. “Everything around it confirms and consolidates its meaning.” Here, Kenney isn’t interested in shaming herself for being carried away by the fantasies of the heart, but rather in investigating the unavoidably human propensity to do so. “I, like everyone else, am muddling through my most ordinary disaster of a life,” she acknowledges, a sentiment which reverberates through album opener “Plain Boring Disaster.” “I don’t need to start again,” she sings at the song’s close. “But I can change when it ends.” We may all be doomed to repetitive, ordinary heartbreaks, Kenney realizes, but at least we can cultivate a capacity to witness our missteps and build new realities for ourselves.

This is Kenney’s most expansive work, while also her most solitary. Produced and recorded alone in her basement, these songs are manifestations of what it feels like to be transformed by pain. Textures collide and collude; sonic ornaments emerge and dissipate capriciously; saxophones soar untamed, as on the 80s pop elegy to self-sacrifice, “Reality Mind”. These songs beg you to dance, then pull the rug out from under you once you’ve caught the beat, leaving you dizzy like the whiplash of love’s end.

But in the propulsive power of A New Reality Mind, there’s also acceptance, self-forgiveness, and a willingness to move forward into life, with all its ways of making a sucker of you. “That way of living, I’m over it,” Kenney declares of the habits that hold her back on “Superficial Conversation”. “I do not need to be reminded of what I did,” she assures, the song opening wide and beaming, like a smile expanding to taste a new breath of air.

credits

released July 28, 2023

A New Reality Mind was written, produced, and recorded by Madeline Kenney in her basement in Oakland, CA, and mixed by Pat Jones at a 5° list to port on the Selene. It was mastered by Carlos Arrendondo in Oakland, CA.

Madeline played and sang on all the tracks, save for the following:

Ben Sloan played the drums on Reality Mind, The Same Again, and HFAM
Phil Di Leo played bass on Reality Mind and Leaves Me Dry
Marissa Deitz played cello on Leaves Me Dry and It Carries On
Amaya Lim sang backing vocals on HFAM and The Same Again
Pat Jones played bass on It Carries On
Jeff Kolhede played saxophone on Drew A Line and It Carries On, and EWI on Reality Mind.
The audio sample on Drew A Line is from John Berger’s Ways of Seeing.

The cover photo was shot by James Boudreau. Patty’s portraits on the back cover and insert poster were shot by Emma Sanchez.
Madeline and Patty’s collar was designed and made by Emily Parkinson.

Now, to you.
First, you were the fool. (You knew it, too)
And if your song was a letter to me,
This is the echo and the answer:
You, you can, turn back
Inside, and around yourself
Holding jawline –
Kissing forehead –
Asking for just
a little imagination.
I don’t believe you want forgiveness –
(Righteousness is hell)
I think maybe what you want is
Reality -
A new reality -
And a new reality’s mind

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about

Madeline Kenney

Madeline is a musician, baker, artist, sucker, living in Oakland, CA.

US booking: sam@highroadtouring.com

management: szweig@anotherplanetent.com

press: jaclynu@grandstandhq.com ... more

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