Back in 2013, my last trip to SXSW, I wandered into a venue to see Night Beds and exited having been completely transfixed by singer Mackenzie Scott (aka Torres) and her band. From then on tracks like Honey and Waterfall became much loved secret treasures – intense and intimate, they were songs I didn’t want to share, but rather to immerse myself in as the ultimate solitary mood music.
Earlier this month Torres released Sprinter, her outstanding second album to almost universal acclaim. Just yesterday the Guardian review I read called it “astonishing, unsettling and beautiful“, and so it is all of those things, and much more besides.
Mostly I am delighted because I want as many people as possible to have the chance to become as entranced as I was by these wonderfully personal songs, sometimes melancholy, sometimes uncomfortable, but always moving and always wonderfully captivating. She has a rare talent as a songwriter, yet there is a tiny, selfish part of me that doesn’t want to share, doesn’t want to concede the genie is out of the box and that others can have these songs as their own just like I have.
Nevertheless, we were delighted when Mackenzie agreed to take part in our 5:1 interview series. Read on and enjoy, and order your copy of Sprinter here.
Five words to describe your music:
Music
Transcends
Limitations
Of
Language
One book you’d recommend to an alien:
Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. Ultra-meta! Aliens reading an earthling’s imagining of earthlings from the perspective of aliens.
Five bands (or albums) that have most influenced you?
Nirvana–In Utero
Tori Amos–Under the Pink
Brandi Carlile–The Story
David Bazan–Strange Negotiations
Johnny Cash–At Folsom Prison
One moment in time you’d like to have witnessed:
The parting of the Red Sea.
Five people (living or dead) you’d love to share a stage-jam with:
Patti Smith
Johnny Cash
Nick Cave
Taylor Swift
Sharon Van Etten
One biggest regret in your career (to date):
No regrets, ever.
Five things on your perfect rider:
Cuddle kitten
Cuddle puppy
Bergamot candles
Dairy-free berry pie
A book to read and keep
One hour to live – who would you spend it with, and why?
My parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, and my cat, Little Bat. Family is everything.
Five perfect songs:
Best 80’s pop melodies:
1. Once in a Lifetime–Talking Heads
2. Seven Wonders–Fleetwood Mac
3. Take on Me–A-ha
4. Madonna–Like a Prayer
5. Love Song–The Cure
One song of yours that you’d most like to be played in 50 years time:
The Exchange.
Our very grateful thanks to Mackenzie for taking the time to answer the MM questions.
You can check out some of our other 5:1 Interviews in the side bar too.
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The Mad Mackerel 