Angie McMahon might just be the voice of a generation.
Equal parts honest, self-aware, vulnerable and strong, her music is transfixing for its innate ability to make the listener “feel seen” in the deepest sense of that overused phrase.
We caught up with the Naarm-based singer-songwriter — who infamously sang about her inability to stop eating pasta despite having suspicions she was allergic, and just released her second album, Light, Dark, Light Again — for a little Chit Chat ahead of her Making It Through Tour, which heads to Hobart this weekend, before a run of Melbourne dates next week.
Have you worked out whether or not you’re allergic to pasta?
Yes! So I thought I had a gluten intolerance and I went to see a nutritionist and she helped me reset my gut lining, basically. She was basically like, “Over the years you build up all this stuff in your gut and if we clear some of that away, then you will probably be able to eat pasta again.”
And so I spent a couple of months taking these herbal shots and these probiotics (which was really disgusting) but it ultimately reset my gut bacteria, so now I can eat gluten again.
How often do you eat pasta now?
Like, every single week. And lots of bread, I love bread. I know that life is probably a little bit more energetic without gluten, but it doesn’t cause me the problems it used to cause me and it’s just, yeah, one of my big joys.
What was your number one most listened to song last year?
It was actually a piano track by an artist called Gia Margaret, I think she’s Scottish… called Hinoki Wood. She has this really beautiful atmospheric piano record and when I’m anxious, which is often, I put it on repeat and it’s quite a short record so I just played it over and over when I was needing it.
What was the response to your triple j Like a Version cover of ‘Reckless’ back in February?
It’s been really positive, actually. I was really scared about a wave of people hating it and telling me I’d ruined a classic, but that hasn’t been the response. I mean, there are always a few trolls who want to point out the original is better, but people have held space for it.
I didn’t know how it would be received but everyone’s just been really kind and really encouraging. I’m really grateful for the comments I’ve seen and any that were negative had swarms of people responding in my defence, which was also really nice.
What were you worried might happen going into it?
Ultimately, I have a fear of getting in trouble, so I was scared I would get in trouble for using my voice or upsetting a certain kind of person. I woke up feeling really anxious the day that we did it, but that wasn’t as powerful as the feeling that it was a good thing to do. And I really wanted to do it. I think, more than anything, it was just a feeling of vulnerability. And a feeling of being exposed and being in the line of potential criticism.
But that’s so small compared to what so many people are struggling with right now, so [my feelings] ultimately didn’t matter too much.
Can you talk to me about some of the lyric changes you made and why they were important to you? I’m thinking specifically about these ones: ‘Blowing up entire bloodlines / Wе want to own the land we found / We’re still contributing to war crimes / While we’re drilling money and years out of the ground.’
With the lines on bloodlines and war crimes … I guess I feel like we are. I feel like that’s what is happening in Gaza and that’s what’s being supported by the Western world, like our governments and the powers that be. And it’s devastating.
I wanted to sing about it because I don’t feel comfortable ignoring it.
And it doesn’t feel like there’s enough acknowledgement of it in the world of media and the world of the arts, so I wanted to shine a spotlight on that. But I also just feel like it’s our responsibility to talk about it. So that’s why, ultimately, I put it in.
I feel so empowered by other people who are also using their voices to talk about it. It’s the kind of thing that causes anxiety, but that is also really beautifully balanced out by knowing that we’re on the right side of history, and plenty of people are doing it, and this was just another format to do it.
Why Fireball whiskey, of all the whiskey?
I used to work at a bar and we would do shots of Fireball, probably because it was the cheap one the bar manager wouldn’t notice was missing. But it became a trend in my life when we started travelling with the band and doing gigs — we’d do a shot of Fireball before the show. And then it just was, for a while, my drink of choice.
But then there was this awful night (that I sing about in the song) where it just made me so sick and I’ve never gone back and now I’m like, that stuff is disgusting and sickly sweet. Ah, I hate it. Whenever I smell it now I’m like, “Get that away from me.”
What’s the worst thing you did as a child?
I bit my older brother on the back when I was maybe five and drew blood… I really aggressively bit one of my siblings.
That’s such a random spot to bite?
I know! It’s actually genius because it’s so hard to stop someone from biting you on the back …
What was the last photo you took?
The last photo I took was yesterday — my dog was waiting for his dinner and he was resting his head and you know when dogs rest their heads and it’s just, ugh!
What about the last screenshot?
It was a perfume someone mentioned to try and so I searched for it and then screenshotted.
Are you gonna buy it?
Well, then I went into the shops and smelled it and didn’t like it. But I want to find a perfume. I haven’t had one in a while that I like and when we go on tour, I thought I might get a new perfume to help capture the memories. You know how you have a different scent for each season of your life? But yeah, that was not it.
What are you watching right now?
Gilmore Girls! I just finished season four. I’ve never watched Gilmore Girls before, so it’s my first time. I’m finding it really interesting — it’s so easy to get sucked into the world of Gilmore Girls.
Rory and Dean just slept together and Lorelai and Luke just kissed; that just happened last night.
Occasionally there’s some really politically incorrect line in the script, so I’m questioning whether it’s good for me, but I’m also really enjoying it. It’s easy.
What was the last thing you saw online that made you laugh?
It was a dog video!
What can people expect from The Making It Through Tour? And what does ‘making it through’ refer to?
‘Making It Through’ is the name of the final song on the record and a big sentiment of my output at the moment, which is centring around self-compassion and just trying to encourage yourself to come out the other side of hard stuff and let that be enough. Gentle expectations, all that kind of thing. And resilience.
I was asking my band, “What the fuck do we call this tour?” and one of them was like, “The Making It Through Tour!” and I just immediately knew it was perfect.
It’s one of my favourite songs on the record. At the end of the song it’s got the lyric, “Light, dark, light again,” which is the name of the record, so there’s the central theme living in that lyric. And the chorus lyric is “Just making it through is OK”, and that’s the whole idea.
On the tour, we’re going to play basically the whole new record, some of the old stuff and probably a couple of covers, because we love playing covers and just try and make it as safe and joyful a space for people as we can.
Obviously some of my music is kind of melancholy and sad but ever since we were in lockdown, when I couldn’t play gigs, I’ve tried to think more deeply and be intentional about what makes a show meaningful.
So we’ll be dotting little things throughout the set that will hopefully encourage a safe and gentle space. I’ll probably force — well, not force, but ask people — to do a tiny little bit of breathing with me.
Angie McMahon’s Making It Through Tour continues until June 7.
Quotes lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
