INTERVIEW: Mousey releases second album 'My Friends': "I wanted a single subject to keep my focus on track...I actually named the album before I wrote any of the songs."

Today New Zealand’s Mousey - real name Sarena Close - releases her second album My Friends.

The album is an eclectic collection of music which while rooted very firmly in altpop and indiepop spans several genres. Lead single ‘The Bench’ is a wonderfully angsty track with a delicious 1980s indiepop feel, while the title track is a whimsical slice of folkpop. ‘One Dollar Wednesday’ embraces guitar pop, and album highlight ‘Rachel’ is an ethereal, dreamy almost experimental track which truly grabs your soul.

‘Wait For Me’, a ‘thank you’ to all those who helped Close with her mental health during lockdowns is the ‘warm heart’ of the album and is an uplifting, melodic and genuinely heartwarming song. On the other side of the coin, ‘Pudding and Pie’ is the “magnum opus, and the cold, damaged heart” of the album. It is a song that surprises, with it’s shuffling almost dance beat and gentle guitars morphing into a harder, louder, rockier sound midway through it’s epic six minute run time.

“My intention was to write an album that was focused on something other than my family, so I decided on the name My Friends before I’d even written any of the songs in order to pull my writing into the subject,” Mousey says. “I initially hoped the album was going to be really light, cute and wholesome. But even though there are many ‘sweet’ songs on the record, my year was really hard and some of my long-time friends left me with some nasty scars - so obviously the record reflects that too. While my last album was about ‘being let down and being a let-down’, and this album is about ‘being let down but being loved’.

Mousey creates music which has a lo-fi feel but is also intricate and expertly created, as well as being extremely relatable and authentic to the experience of moving through the important milestones in life. We recently caught up with Mousey to chat more about her career and the creation of My Friends.

Hi Mousey! So great to chat with you. How is everything in your world right now?
I just had my 6 year anniversary with my amazing husband, I’m pregnant and in the middle of an album release. Things are good!

Congratulations on the release of your new album My Friends which is out today. It is a fantastic album! You have said it is about ‘being let down but being loved’. Can you talk me through a little more about the inspiration behind the album and the message, or ‘feeling’, you wanted to project? 
This album is an autobiography/compilation of feelings and experiences I’ve had over the last 2 years. I named the album My Friends before I wrote all the songs so that’s really the common thread. But my friendships and relationships have been so broad over the last couple of years so I don’t know if I have a feeling I wanted to project - I do hope people can relate to the songs in some way though! 

What was the creative process like for the album? Where did you record and who did you work with?
I wrote a lot of the album while camping at our holiday spot in Golden Bay, the rest I wrote at home or on the piano in between lessons when I was teaching. Once I’d completed the writing stage and the band had learned the songs locked in and feeling comfortable we headed to The Sitting Room in Lyttelton to record the album.  

There is a delicious retro feel to several of the tracks which is reminiscent of the great indie-pop of the 1980s and 1990s. Was there a particular style of music that inspired you, or fed into the process, when you were creating the album? 
So many styles have influenced me but I definitely gravitate to music from the past and probably current artists who are also inspired by the past. On tracks like ‘One Dollar Wednesdays’ I tried to channel a bit of The Go-Go’s and ‘The Bench’ was inspired by Queen (even though you may not be able to hear it!). 

One of the highlights on the album for me is ‘Rachel’, which is really gentle and stripped back. Can you talk me through the inspiration behind and creation of this track? 
I wrote this song on the piano at home in the dark. It just came out from start to finish in about an hour, it’s a real highlight for me too. 

Lead single from My Friends ‘The Bench’ is such a great track and I love the music video just as much, the juxtaposition between your energetic dancing and your very restrained band is brilliant. What was the experience like making the video?
I always find making videos stressful, one of the reasons being is that I’m super uncomfortable in front of the camera. Whenever a camera is on me, whether photograph or video I just seize up and feel so uncomfortable. Obviously with this video I had to push myself so much! Luckily for me, everyone on set was so encouraging and totally embraced my crazy energy on set. The band (Tori, Becky and Christie) look so cool and it was a really great experience.

What role did music play in your life when you were growing up?
Music was everything to me when growing up. Playing piano was my safe haven from quite a young age and playing in bands helped me out socially, being able to make friends and play music together. 

Your debut album Lemon Law was released in 2019. Did you find the process of creating an album different this time around? How do you think you have changed as an artist in the time between the two albums? 
My Friends was definitely created from scratch to be ‘an album’. Lemon Law was written as independent songs over a long period of time so when it came time to make an album, I gathered together all my best and favourite songs from my life. My Friends is almost the complete opposite - I wanted a single subject to keep my focus on track, so I actually named the album before I wrote any of the songs and built the whole album around that idea. I even had the track-list planned out very early and knew where everything was going to be. 

The music industry and the whole structure built around it has not been a particularly safe space for women ever since it begun, in the main because it has been run by older, white, straight men for so long. What are your thoughts on gender equality and sexism in the music industry? 
It’s awful. There are predators out there that don’t see themselves as predators. It’s so dangerous. Some of them even see themselves as the victims and will never change. Like you’ll see these guys posting on International Women’s Day, or supporting the ‘me too’ conversations on social media all the while not taking responsibility for their own actions. Most, most, most victims just stay quiet because its so much more stressful to come out. The stories that we know about are just a drop in the bucket.

My Friends is out now, what else is on the cards for Mousey in 2022? 
We gotta get this album out as far and wide as we can in this climate! And with all going well, I’ll have a cute wee baby to look after later in the year.

My Friends is out now. You can buy and stream here.

To keep up with all things Mousey you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.