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Perfect Shapes

by Madeline Kenney

supported by
Lee Downey
Lee Downey thumbnail
Lee Downey This album has some decent singles and good ideas, but much of the album sounds the same with chorus pedal and slide solos. Listen to how Durutti Column does more with less. I listen to this album often so mission accomplished I guess. Favorite track: The Flavor of the Fruit Tree.
locknessie
locknessie thumbnail
locknessie The kind of music that just takes me to another place that feels so serene Favorite track: Your Art.
Pierre Conrad
Pierre Conrad thumbnail
Pierre Conrad Simply a pleasant listen with some neat production tricks thanks to help from Jenn Wasner. I hear echoes of Flock of Dimes throughout. The lyrics are pretty lovesick, but feel more real than the vapid nonsense I'm used to in that realm. Favorite track: The Flavor of the Fruit Tree.
Nicholas B. Fournier
Nicholas  B. Fournier thumbnail
Nicholas B. Fournier Without losing focus, Madeline utilizes the full capability of contemporary pop music to illuminate the over-exposure we feel throughout our daily lives. Keep it up! It's beautiful and important! Favorite track: Know.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Perfect Shapes via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25.99 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Perfect Shapes via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15.99 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9.99 USD  or more

     

  • Cassette
    Cassette + Digital Album

    White cassette shell housed in a clear plastic case with a J-Card

    Includes unlimited streaming of Perfect Shapes via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Overhead 03:57
2.
Bad Idea 04:05
3.
Cut Me Off 03:19
4.
No Weekend 02:59
5.
Know 04:23
6.
7.
I Went Home 03:38
8.
9.
Your Art 03:27
10.

about

ON TOUR NOW
www.perfectshapes.club

In January of 2018, five months after the release of her debut album "Night Night at the First Landing," Madeline Kenney traveled from Oakland, California to the woods outside of Durham, North Carolina to record her sophomore album with a new collaborator, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner. The choice was a conscious decision to explore new methodology in writing, recording, production and even genre. "Perfect Shapes" sees Kenney leaping headfirst into fresh and adventurous territory, largely eschewing conventional rock structures in favor of theme and melody. Its ten songs are full of surprises big and small - from vibrant synth lines to taut bass figures and subtly modulated vocals - that instead of feeling fussed over, reveal Kenney’s penchant for elegant and abstract composition.

Kenney’s 2017 debut, "Night Night at the First Landing," was a guitar-centric rock album, produced by friend and collaborator Chaz Bear of Toro Y Moi. "Perfect Shapes" leans on the foundational pieces of "Night Night" - fuzzed-out guitar tones, coy wordplay and Kenney’s notably strong voice - but with an unconventional approach that allows them to bloom, reincarnated.

"Perfect Shapes" marks Wasner’s first foray into producing another artist’s work and is permeated by the pair’s collaborative spirit. Both Wasner and Kenney play multiple instruments on the record, and engineered the session alongside Kenney’s touring percussionist, Camille Lewis. An eagerness to explore and experiment is apparent from start to finish, as Kenney and Wasner weave endless sonic curve balls into the arrangements. From the delightfully warped percussion on opening track “Overhead” to the burbling synths on the R&B-tinted “The Flavor of the Fruit Tree” and the left-field trumpet solo in “Your Art,” these rich and inventive ideas echo Yo La Tengo’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mentality, as well as the surging soundscapes of Tame Impala and Wye Oak at their most impressionistic. Lead single "Cut Me Off" is a surprise of its own - the most pop-forward song Kenney has written yet.

The dazzling arrangements form the perfect backdrop for the complex and open-ended questions at the core of "Perfect Shapes" - how do you love another when it hurts to do so? What is the physical limit to which one can carry the emotions of others? How does a modern female artist reckon with the expectations demanded of her femininity? Yet for all the notes of doubt and fear that Kenney raises, she delivers each song with confidence and nuance. “Bad Idea,” finds her balancing fragility as foil; later, “I Went Home” manages to evoke both frustration and affection in a single breath.

credits

released October 5, 2018

All songs written by Madeline Kenney
Produced by Jenn Wasner, except "Overhead" which was produced by Ben Sloan
Madeline Kenney - vocals, guitar, synth, keys
Jenn Wasner - bass, vocals, guitar, synth
Camille lewis - drums, percussion, vocals
Ben Sloan - drums on "Overhead"
Stephen Patota - guitar on "Overhead"
Derek Barber - guitar on "No Weekend," "Know," "The Flavor of the Fruit Tree," and "Always Around Me"
Paul Rogers - trumpet on "Your Art"
Andy Stack - saxophone on "No Weekend," vocals on "Know"
Walker Johnson - drum samples on "The Flavor of the Fruit Tree"

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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
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