Music
Nell Mescal: “It’s a nice feeling not to be shouting into a void”
Our New Music artist for the month talks about her new EP and the importance of a support system when you sing sad songs
From playing festivals such as Reading & Leeds to signing to major label Atlantic Records, it’s been a year of big moments and maybe even greater awakenings for singer-songwriter Nell Mescal. She is awash with gratitude as we meet over Zoom to discuss experiences on and off stage in the lead-up to The Closest We’ll Get, her sophomore EP released today (24 October) – six songs that see her embrace closer collaboration while stripping back the emotional layers over floaty, fiddle-laced folk-pop, her warm, open-hearted songwriting front and centre.
It’s been a few years since Mescal has been getting online attention for achingly beautiful covers and indie-pop originals such as ‘Killing Time’ and ‘Warm Body’, both featured on her 2024 debut EP Can I Miss It For A Minute?, earning her support slots with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Dermot Kennedy and Florence + The Machine along the way. Her Oscar-nominated brother Paul often gets the headlines, but the younger Mescal speaks of nearly a lifetime of songwriting that started well before her teens: “I went back home recently and found all these notebooks that I had when I was really, really young, and all these songs that I didn’t know how to make into songs,” she says. “I remember writing them, but it kind of jogged my memory as I was reading them.” Putting out her 2020 song ‘Crash’ – since taken offline as she no longer resonates with it – was the first time that she ever felt like this was something she wanted to do all the time.
So she took big, bold steps to make music happen, leaving school and her native Co. Kildare, Ireland at 18 to pursue music in north London, writing songs about feeling homesick, bullying and girls getting “mean before fifteen”, body image and walking that thin line between love and friendship – stories told by turns in an earthy and crystalline voice that can’t help but strike a chord.
You’ve spoken about being part of school choirs. Not necessarily the coolest thing, but it must be so cathartic, not feeling the pressure of exposure or putting your heart out there. How important is it for young musicians to use their voice, even if it is just to hear themselves sing?
It’s massively important. I was in some school choirs, but I was in a choir that was outside of school and initially it was called Glee Club. I was so young, and we would do all these songs. Then it turned into a choir called SUSO (Speak Up Sing Out), and they’re still running. They’re the most amazing group of people.
For me, that was in tandem with singing lessons, which obviously were really important for me to grow my voice. Yeah, you can hide behind people and maybe you can guard your heart a little bit. But alll you’re doing is putting your heart out there! Because when you do it with a group of people, you can’t help but feel moved by it. Whether it’s good or not, it doesn’t matter.
I would sit at the back and be told to sing a certain line, and I’d probably always sing my own thing. But I got such joy from it. Especially in groups like SUSO, everyone got a chance to shine, everyone got a chance to have a moment, and everyone got a chance to have a solo. It was amazing for my confidence. It’s so important to do things that are completely outside of your comfort zone.
Your first EP was centred around friendship and coming of age. What are the themes and experiences that have shaped your sophomore EP, The Closest We’ll Get?
It was an interesting one to write because it was the first time I was writing about something that wasn’t completely about friendship, but it was about something romantic as well, which made me quite shy and nervous to show people like my parents. But it was also because it is about a friendship that never quite gets out of there.
It’s about two people that you think there must be something there – actually, there definitely is. But maybe the thing that isn’t there is bravery, or someone having a little bit of courage to put themselves out there – me included. It’s about this grey area between two people that get really close to being something more, but never quite. They’re figuring out if the friendship is the best thing, the wondrous thing about this relationship.
Do you still mostly write from your own experiences, or do you think the more music you put out there, and honing your craft, you use more storytelling?
I just try and tell the story from how I see it. Maybe, if anything, I’ll step into the world of the person that I’m trying to write about but directly related to me. So, it’s still very much my own experience, and I’ve always tried to keep it that way. Just write what you know.
I know some songwriters that completely pull from other people’s stories, and it’s an incredible art that maybe I haven’t owned yet. But yeah, for me right now, lots go on in my life that I need to keep tabs on in some way.
There aren’t enough songs to fit everything in there! I hear folkier influences as well. After moving to London, did you feel the need to be more in touch with your Irish roots? ‘See You Again’ also has a dreamy, psychedelic tinge. What’s the story behind the sound?
I grew up on folk music, and I grew up in that kind of world. I also grew up on musical theatre; I could have gone down that road! It’s the music that I listen to, that I’m really drawn to, it’s the writing style that I’m really intrigued by.
Specifically for this EP, when I was putting together people that I wanted to work with, Philip Weinrobe was at the top of that list. He’s such an incredible producer and he’s working with all these incredible musicians. So, when he signed on to do it I was pinching myself in a massive way! But then you go into this room and it’s all live. There was a group of us in this small, small space creating something from scratch, which was such an incredible feeling. I really wanted it to be as real and as human as possible.
You also signed to Atlantic Records this year. Do you feel that has helped your music grow, or taken it to a different direction? It must have given you a confidence boost, for one.
I think it does a weird thing to the confidence, cause you feel like an imposter maybe. I don’t know how much it’s changed my artistry, or my writing but it’s definitely helped having a lot more people who are on hand, and who care. It’s a nice feeling not to be shouting into a void, and now you’re throwing ideas at people and people are able to throw some back at you. It’s just been a lovely pat on the back, I guess.
It’s been a massive joy the past few years, realising that you can collaborate with people. I didn’t. I was writing by myself, and I was at home, and I thought it was this very solo thing. But I grew up in choirs, and I grew up singing with people. So you miss it. Even forming a band was such a massive thing for me. That’s been one of the biggest things in my life, having people on stage with me, that I can still be me and be my project, but I get to look back and see my best friend Charlie on guitar and go, “This is so cool!”.
It’s a support system.
Yeah, totally. You do need it! Especially when you’re singing about sad things all the time haha.
The way Philip works, he pulled together a group of musicians in New York who he had worked with. I’d never really seen a group like this before, cause everyone was just so intelligent and good and had honed their craft in such a massive way, but no one had any ego. So, everyone’s just in a room cracking jokes, and really just there for each other. And I got to bring my guitarist, Charlie, over. He plays and sings on the EP as well and does all the harmonies.
Back here, I’ve got a different band, we’re five five-piece now. In the current touring climate, you’re told to keep it as small as possible and I’m like, “Please let me keep it growing!” I wanted to sound like the EP when we play live in November and December. It’s a lovely process at the moment, pulling people together.
Are you excited, or do you feel the weight of expectations – also your own expectations, with a headline tour coming up?
It’s funny, this year I’ve been trying to take everything as it comes and be quite present, not worry too much about all the other noise and expectations of things. I keep saying I just want the band and me to have a really good time because we get to do a job that is really fun and silly in times that are maybe not that. Once we get rehearsals in, then we can just go and have a really good time and connect with loads of people. So I’m just really excited. I’m not too nervous yet; I’ll be nervous the week before.
You’ve already had a few great experiences on stage with some of your idols. Is there a moment that stands out? Big or small, or maybe one that only you know?
I played a show in Dublin on one of my first Irish tours. My mum and dad were standing at the back. I talk about them a lot because I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for them. I couldn’t have.
I saw them and I was completely overwhelmed. I could feel their energy, I could feel their pride, and it was such an incredible feeling. It’s hard to have that on stage, when you’re in front of a load of people, cause you have to pull yourself together. But it’s funny, any show that they’ve ever been at, I feel it. It’s so difficult not to.
I’ve just been so lucky, I’ve been able to play a load of shows that have felt like that. It’s really about the connection with the people, as much as any excitement of being on a massive stage. If you look into someone’s eyes and they’re singing back the lyrics or they’re right there with you. There’s really no greater feeling.
When you say that you wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for your parents, do you mean because you grew up in a musical family, or because of their support?
Honestly, it wasn’t even the music at home, it was the support. They put us in rooms, they put us in hobbies and they never thought we would fail. And it wasn’t that they expected us to be the best. They were like, “You can’t fail, because there’s no expectations of anything other than just go and enjoy yourself, and put your all out there”. They never said “no” when it came to a dream. They said “no” plenty of other times when it came to irresponsible things. But when it came to dreams, they never made you feel like you were small for thinking that you could be this big artist. When you were in your head and going, “There’s no way I’m gonna be able to do this”, they’re the ones that are going, “Oh, you absolutely will. You are!”
What are you looking forward to most next year?
I was on a writing trip recently, only two weeks ago. You know, you’re writing songs every day, and then I wrote a song that made me feel like I’ve just written everything that I could possibly have needed to say in that moment. It made me remember how much I love writing music, being thrown into a new space and coming out with something different. Every year, the music to me has felt better or stronger, or just more personal – for better or worse, more personal! I’m just really looking forward to seeing how it grows. I’ll be right there with everyone else.
The Closest We’ll Get is out now
