Environmental Results

Madeline's New Album The Slow Bang Reels With Intimacy And Melody

originally published January 31, 2007

Teenaged Athens native Madeline Adams needed little more than her pronounced, ringing vocals and primitively rhythmic acoustic guitar when she broke onto the local underground scene as a solo performer in 2000. She briefly fronted a dance-pop band called The Sugar Shakers, and easily defied the conventions of girl-with-acoustic-guitar stereotypes, burning CD-Rs of her direct and folk-leaning songs and self-releasing the album Kissing & Dancing in 2002, followed by a handful of shorter releases.

"I got my first show at the X-Ray Café when I was 15," says Madeline. "I think if I hadn't have been so young and clueless, I wouldn't have been ballsy enough to ask for a show. I'd only been playing guitar for two or three months."

Now 21 years old and back in Athens' crowded scene after some time in Indiana, Adams - who performs under the lone moniker Madeline - delivers The Slow Bang this week, a new collection of charming and serene songs released on the local label Orange Twin. Madeline recorded and produced the album at the country house of Matthew Houck, the songwriter who performs solo and with band under the name Phosphorescent; his sparse approach and affinity for the Southern rustic marry well with Madeline's evocative vocals.

From the plaintive "From Hell and Back," on which the subtle creak of Houck's backing vocal complements the chime of Madeline's voice, to the swoony waltz of "The Demise of Madame Butterfly," the album features surprising variety in just more than half an hour, working in piano, guitar, drums and crickets chirping. The lyrics range from wry to sensual to tender, and the album's a big step forward for an already experienced songwriter.

Accidental Creations

Madeline met Houck near the end of 2005. Several casual recording experiments late that year and in early 2006 showed immediate promise and resulted in a full album with Houck producing, somewhat to the surprise of both involved.

"It started with just hanging out," says Madeline. "I was seeing him around more and more and we became friends. But rewind to a few months prior to that, I'd spent most of what I earned on a tour recording in a studio, and it sounded so bad. Just not what I wanted at all, and that was $600 down the toilet. It sounded like it was recorded in a hospital. Well, that might be a little strong, but it was sterile and just not what I wanted. So after that, I was totally frozen and indecisive and didn't know what to record or even what I wanted stuff to sound like.

"Fast-forward back to when I met Matthew: he gave me a copy of [his album] Aw Come Aw Wry. The production of that was kinda my dream. And the recording of the album started with the song 'Madame Butterfly.' That [came from] just hanging out after the bars closed, having fun. That was how the first five songs we recorded happened, just casually. Once I realized that that's what I wanted for an album, we kind of got serious about it and worked on some more songs that winter."

Houck lent his rough-hewn sensibilities, not just to the recording sessions (Madeline says an unofficial one-take, "mistakes and all" rule was in effect for the vocals and guitar, recorded together), the final product and its production qualities, but was involved from the beginning. "Matthew had a really heavy hand in it," says Madeline. "I gave him a tape of 30 songs and told him to pick his favorites. With some arguing and juggling around, that's pretty much how it happened."

According to Houck, the specific songs that he selected for the Slow Bang sessions simply made sense. "Two things: one, I thought they were great songs, and two, the nine we chose, they all seemed to kind of fit together," he says. "The sound we got from just having fun was one thing, and we agreed that those songs fit the kind of sound we were getting, while some of the other songs she gave me seemed to want something different."

From the dusty, simpler tracks like "Fish in the Sea" and "Simple Words" to the decidedly more baroque "The Demise of Madame Butterfly" and "Good Houses," arrangement decisions and instrumental augmentation also evolved organically. "It was figured out kind of as we worked," says Houck. "The songs presented themselves - some were beautiful right away and didn't need anything, and others we just figured out as we went."

Some tracks were newly written, while others, like "Fish in the Sea," were songs written years ago, says Madeline. "I was just lucky enough to capture exactly the sound I wanted," she adds. "Everything was spontaneous and natural."

Growing Pains

Putting out an album on a label, sending said album to magazines, trying to book more club shows out of town: Madeline says she's slowly moving into the more "professional" corner of music. "I'm starting to learn the language of talking to bars and shows, but I still feel uncomfortable asking for money and negotiating and stuff like that. It's definitely a lot easier to do house shows and stuff at DIY places. Number one, when I play houses, the person setting up the show is, if not a friend of mine, at least a friend of a friend or a fan of my music and excited about [it], whereas a bar is, y'know…" says Madeline. "And as far as pay goes and getting gas money and whatever, I'd say it's the same, money-wise. I've never had a guarantee or anything, and at a bar you have to pay the door guy, the sound guy, etc. So I'd say it's about the same. The only thing [is that] the exclusiveness of house shows sometimes is cliquish, and that's limiting in terms of who actually comes to my shows. I'd like to be in a position where people's moms can come to shows, too. But bars can be cliquish, too. Maybe I should do a whole tour and put on the flyer 'The Bring Your Mom Tour.'"

As to the origins of the union with Orange Twin, which is the label releasing and backing The Slow Bang, Madeline says specifics are hazy, but that everything started with a conversation with the label's cofounder Laura Carter. "I was backstage at a 40 Watt show," says Madeline, "and Laura came back and she was like, 'I hear a rumor that you're on Orange Twin.' I just laughed and was like, 'Well, I haven't heard about that.' Then she said, 'Let's make that rumor a reality.'"

Despite the step up in label-hood, Madeline says little has changed in terms of actual processes; she's still booking many of her own shows and handling much of the promotion. She laughs, and says, "I've even gone under a different name to call radio stations and newspapers to promote myself. It's still DIY, and it's a bigger work load. I love being able to be on Orange Twin, and also being a small part of being able to fund their land project." Though much of the work remains on Madeline's shoulders, and she bankrolled the initial pressing of 1,000 discs, she says the name recognition of Orange Twin has been one of the many benefits. Silly stuff like a magazine is more likely to open an envelope that has an Orange Twin stamp on it rather than one that's just, 'Hey! From me! Madeline Adams! Listen to my music!' There's a good support system, and they have a great reputation.

"I guess before I never really thought about where reviews in magazines come from, but, y'know, you don't think that each one has to have a copy and they all have to be mailed. It gets to the point where it's sad to give away so many of my babies to press. It's nerve-wracking. It's weird, it's something I never thought I'd do. The whole review thing, I mean, press, sending albums to Magnet."

But the dauntingly curious world of seeking press has had its positives, says Madeline; "Good Houses" appeared on the Jan. 5 edition of National Public Radio's show "All Songs Considered," couched between tracks by The Arcade Fire, Of Montreal and The Shins. "I got on 'All Songs Considered' and they brought up the Sugar Shakers, and I was like 'What? That lasted for seven months!'" says Madeline, adding that the inclusion of her track came as something of a surprise, and was the result of a simple package mailed to the station. "It was really wonderful, because I'm a total NPR dork, and I try to listen to 'All Things Considered' as much as possible. That was the one package I sent off with a kiss, and it worked!"

Forward Motions

At this week's Athens show, Madeline plays with a full band backed by bassist Caleb Darnell of local folk-blues act Bellyache and drummer Matt Cathcart of Indiana band and frequent Madeline tourmates The Door-Keys. A handful of friends will also make their way onstage throughout the performance, including Laura Carter and Theo Hilton, among others. "The 40 Watt's great, I've never played anywhere that matches it or its sound. I'm really spoiled by it. We're going to try to mimic the production of the album," says Madeline, "at least to a certain degree. It'll probably be a little more rockin'."

A March tour finds Madeline hitting the Eastern Seaboard, swinging from Athens all the way up to Rhode Island, left through the Midwest and then back down South. Following that stint, Madeline says her next conquest is Europe, where she'll tour solo for several weeks in May. "It'll be my first time going there," she says. "The booking's being handled by a guy called Paper & Iron who does the European booking for a lot of American DIY and punk acts, so he knows what he's doing. I'm really excited about that."

Following that continental jaunt, Madeline plans to settle back in to Athens for a bit before deciding on her next project. "I've been thinking about the next step a lot. I've got a lot of songs to record," she says. "I've never put out anything I've recorded in a studio and I don't know if I should go to a studio ever again. I'm scared of the studio, to be honest. It's intimidating. There's nothing warm about it. And the time limitations… I've never gotten a great sound when trying to work against the clock, so the more open thing seems to produce the best results, for me at least. We'll see what happens."

Chris Hassiotis

WHO: Madeline, Nana Grizol, The Ginger Envelope

WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Saturday, February 3
HOW MUCH: $5