INTERVIEW: Rett Madison on new music and single 'Apocalyptic Folk Song': "I try to write music from a place of honesty and vulnerability."
Image: Mikayla Miller
Published: 20 May 2024
Los Angeles based artist Rett Madison creates music that mixes rock, pop, folk, Americana, indie and soul which ever since she first released music in 2018 has brought her increasing critical acclaim.
Running through all her music are important political lyrics, with topics ranging from the environment, feminism, gender identity and consumerism. While she is not the only artist to do this, there is a raw and poetic quality to her lyrics which bring to mind the finest protest songs of the 1960s and 1970s.
Over the last couple of weeks Madison has released two new singles. ‘Kiki (Rett’s Take)’ is a stripped back reworking of a song that first appeared on her 2023 album One for Jackie, and at the end of April she released 'Apocalyptic Folk Song'. It is a brooding, dark, rock-country-folk track with a heavy beat with Madison exploring the death of our environment while the rich pursue their own agenda: “I think it’s raining ash / There’s nothing left down here but landfills and trash / Rich men board a rocket first class.” It is both a deeply moving and also sobering song, with Madison’s voice moving from quiet tenderness, to her upper register and powerful, husky emotion. “I wrote ‘Apocalyptic Folk Song’ about climate anxiety and my existential dread,” Madison said on the song’s release.
2024 has been a year of highlights for Madison, with shows performing alongside John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats and Bailen, a headline tour throughout the US Midwest and in February, she performed on the stage of famed venue the Carnegie Hall as part of The Piano Recital alongside Mandy Moore, Margo Price and Meg Duffy amongst others. Later this year she will be performing at Americana Music Fest and Austin City Limits this fall.
We recently caught up with Madison to find out more about 'Apocalyptic Folk Song' and her music.
Hi Rett! Thanks for joining us today. How is everything in your world right now?
I spent the first few months of 2024 on the road touring so I’m happy to be home right now with my partner and my dog just relaxing and getting back into a routine.
You have recently released your new single ‘Apocalyptic Folk Song’, this is such an amazing song: moody, atmospheric, passionate, I love it. You have said this song is about your climate anxiety and existential dread, can you tell me a little bit more about the inspiration behind the song?
Thank you for the kind words! The inspirations for the song are my frustrations, fears, and worries when it comes to climate change. When I wrote it, I’d probably just read another infuriating news story about the climate crisis or seen a news clip that upset me. It’s hard to pin down exactly what caused me to reach for my guitar, but it’s a focus in a lot of news and media that I consume these days.
Can you talk me a little through the creative process for the song, who did you work with, how long the process took?
I wrote this song after my friend and producer, Tyler Chester, gave me a guitar to borrow. It was in a lower tuning than I usually write songs in so I felt inspired to create and couldn’t set it down. Eventually, I wrote ‘Apocalyptic Folk Song’ and we took time to record it when we were at Sonic Ranch recording my sophomore album One for Jackie. Tyler had a great idea to create these dramatic, distorted amp effects in real time while I tracked vocals and acoustic guitar.
As you mentioned, the song has a very strong message about climate change and the many ways in which our world is dying - “Mausoleums are livelier than the Great Barrier Reef” - and this kind of strong, political message in music doesn’t seem as prevalent as it once was. Is creating music with a strong message integral to who you are as an artist, and do you think more artists should be delivering these important messages in their music?
I often try to write music from a place of honesty and vulnerability. Sometimes what I’m authentically feeling is more about my personal life and sometimes what I feel moved to write about just so happens to be a more political message, but I think that’s because I’m a politically engaged person so it’s often what I’m talking about with people in my life and occasionally that comes through in my writing too.
I want to ask you about one of your earlier singles, ‘Pin-Up Daddy’. This is such a great track, and the story told in the lyrics of self-discovery and self-acceptance is really beautiful. You then of course have this amazing dance-pop remix, which is so different from the rest of your sound. Can I ask you about the inspiration behind this song, and also how the remix came about?
I wrote ‘Pin-up Daddy’ about accepting and celebrating my own fluidity of gender expression. Sometimes I’m more masculine in the way I move through the world and sometimes I’m really feminine in the way I dress and act. I think all parts of me are beautiful and I want to honour that fluidity and not repress it.
The dance-pop remix came about because I just felt that the message of the song would also really connect with people if it had a fun disco-pop arrangement too. I collaborated with my friend Brian Robert Jones, who also played bass guitar on the original album version, to produce the pop remix.
For those who might be new to your music, can you tell me a little about your musical journey? Where did you start and how did you get to where you are now?
I was raised in West Virginia and the influence of Appalachian storytelling is very present in my music. I was incredibly lucky to have parents that supported my passion for music at an early age and I began studying music when I was five years old. From that point on I performed as often as I could, whether it was in musicals, school choirs, or small-town county-fair talent shows. I think my ambition to play shows as often as possible, and lots of support from my community, have helped me achieve the career I have today.
Your voice is really special - emotive, powerful, gentle and just beautiful to listen to. When did you first become aware you had this really beautiful instrument within you?
Thank you so much! Singing has been the most therapeutic way for me to express my emotions from as early as I can remember. My mom was the first person to notice that I could sing because she’d hear me perform for my stuffed animals whenever I was playing at home as a young kid. She and my dad soon enrolled me in voice lessons and once I grew a bit older I became aware of how lucky I am to have this instrument to express myself.
You have been releasing music for around six years now, how do you feel you have grown and/or changed as an artist in that time?
Every time I record a song or make an album, I learn so much about myself as an artist and musician. I think what’s changed the most about me in the past six years of releasing music is my confidence in my talents, my ideas, and my artistic voice.
The music industry has notoriously been a difficult industry for women to exist in, due to entrenched sexism and the pressure put on women to look a particular way, or to fit a particular music box. What are your thoughts on gender (in)equality in music?
There’s still a lot of work to be done to make the music industry a safer and more inclusive space, and there are plenty of tangible actions that music industry professionals can be taking to level the playing field for women in music right now. A few examples include booking more women on major festival line-ups, creating more performance opportunities that spotlight women, and uplifting the incredible work of women working in studio spaces as producers and recording engineers.
‘Apocalyptic Folk Song’ is out now, what else is coming up for you in 2024?
Aside from releasing ‘Apocalyptic Folk Song’ I also just put out a new version of ‘Kiki’ the closing track on my sophomore album One for Jackie. On the album version, Iron & Wine generously lends his vocals to the song, but I also wanted a version to exist of myself singing it too. For the rest of 2024, I plan on writing my third album and hopefully continuing to play a few shows here and there.
‘Apocalyptic Folk Song’ is out now via War Buddha/Warner Music. You can buy and stream here.
’Kiki (Rett’s Take) is also out now via War Buddha/Warner Music. You can buy and stream here.
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