Madison Cunningham Releases Beautiful and Breathtaking Album, “Revealer”
Words by Hannah Kozak / Photo by Claire Marie Vogel
Two time Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and guitarist Madison Cunningham releases her second album, Revealer, on September 9th. Cunningham comes from a successful and busy 2021, catching the likes of Rolling Stone and NPR, opening for Harry Styles at sold out Madison Square Garden shows, and performing on various late night shows. Releasing Revealer after incredible success may seem daunting, but Cunningham shows she takes the challenge, turns it on its head, and releases a work of art that is undoubtedly breathtakingly beautiful.
The album’s first single, “Hospital,” is a standout track with bluesy-inspired guitars detailing Cunningham’s struggles of working through fear and misfortunes. Yet one thing special about Cunningham’s writing, and it appears on many songs on Revealer, is that she writes as catharsis. She does not necessarily seek out closure or remediation in her songs. Her writing is honest and raw, humanizing and full of imagery accompanied by strong and soothing vocals.
Another personal favorite on Revealer (that Cunningham also recognizes seems to be a fan favorite) is “Life According to Raechel.” The track is about a devastating loss of a loved one, and Cunningham creates a tender dedication to her late friend. “Life According to Raechel” is nothing short of beautiful and emotional. The song opens with soft acoustic guitar and light strings in the back, with Cunningham singing, Once your girl, I’m always your girl / When I’m here or when I’m there / Or on a plane headed somewhere / You were staring down the cars, hoping it would be one of ours / Children and grandchildren writing you cards / But how long were you waiting for me / To make a left down your street? The first time I listened to “Life According to Raechel,” I got chills and was nearly moved to tears. There are genuinely very few songs that evoke the kind of feeling Cunningham brings to this particular track, and although she has admitted that she was never fully satisfied with the song when writing it, “Life According to Raechel” displays the relationship between the two and how lost loved ones always stay part of us.
Cunningham is truly an artist on a completely different level from other songwriters. We were able to briefly chat with Cunningham right after her album came out about Revealer, her favorite gear, and her creative visions.
Q: It’s noted that writing Revealer didn’t necessarily come easily; when did everything start to click for you, and when did you start to realize that you truly had a great album in the palm of your hand?
A: Probably, in retrospect, I think I have spoken a lot about how hard it was to make it because when the good breakthrough moments came, there was another hurdle immediately after that. It felt like it was this sort of stop and go progression the whole time. You know when you’re so buried in something and it’s become of utmost importance to finish it to get over those hurdles, you start to wonder ‘I’ve put all this work in, I’ve cried and bled over this, is this good? Is this worthy?’ I think probably towards the end of last year when all the songs were together and I made the sequence for the album, I felt the relief of ‘I think this is a full thought and a statement that I’m actually proud of.’ I think that was more evident given how hard it was personally to make it and then to know everything about what it took to make it, and to still be proud of it on the other end.
Q: What is your favorite guitar and pedal to use in your music/when performing? What about this guitar/pedal stands out to you against your others?
A: There’s a pedal by JHS called the Emperor pedal, and I actually just made a customized version of it with them, and it’s this sort of warble sound that I keep on my guitar for every single song. I think I love it because it feels like it is this really nice base that I think elevates the sound of the guitar, and it makes it sound like itself. It makes it feel like me any time I turn it on.
Q: Your music videos (Hospital, Anywhere) have a quirky and cinematic feel to them. Where do you draw inspiration from when making a music video/visuals, and can we expect more of this throughout your album cycle?
A: Definitely, there’s certainly more videos to be made. A huge thing that inspires me is just watching cinema, and I think two big influences for those music videos, specifically the ‘Hospital’ music video, was The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, two Jim Carrey movies which is really funny. The Truman Show specifically, the cinematic nature of it, the film camera, everything, was just so perfect, but it also had this very creepy feeling of ‘nothing to see here.’ There was just this sort of sinister reality of that place bubbling under the narrative. I wanted to kind of draw from that feeling.
Follow Madison Cunningham
