Nashville-based songwriter Madi Diaz announces her new album, History Of A Feeling, out August 27th on ANTI, and today presents a new single/video, “Woman In My Heart.”
History Of A Feeling undeniably marks Diaz’s status as a first-rate songwriter, a craft she’s spent years refining. Across the album, Diaz cycles through the full spectrum of emotions as she comes to terms with the dissolution of a meaningful relationship. She plays the line between the personal and the general with dexterity: in Diaz’s hands, quiet moments of self-pity are transformed into grand meditations on heartbreak, and unwieldy knots of big existential feelings are smoothed out with a sense of clear-eyed precision.
Diaz started working on History Of A Feeling three years ago, before beginning collaborations with co-producer Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver) with whom she worked closely to flesh out the album’s instrumentation. It’s a homecoming record of sorts that points to her Nashville songwriting roots. Pulling from a range of folk, country and pop leanings, as much influenced by Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna as PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna, History Of A Feeling is comprised of the most direct and introspective songs Diaz has ever written. Throughout, she seamlessly weaves a profound sense of intimacy and camaraderie as her lyrics are relatable to anyone who has experienced heartbreak and great change in some manner. These universals are shaded by the fact that the relationship breakdown Diaz is chronicling coincided with her former partner transitioning, a complex reckoning Diaz approaches with empathy, candor, and care. “The bulk of this music came from dealing with a kind of tsunami clash of compassion, both for my former partner while she was discovering a deeper part of her gender identity long hidden, and my own raw heartache over having lost the partner I knew,” Diaz says. “I felt so torn through the middle because half of me wanted to hold this person through such a major life event, one that is so beautiful and hard, and the other half felt lost—like I had lost myself in someone else’s story.” It was a sea change that reverberated and ricocheted in her reflections on their relationship and her own sense of self moving forward and her process of healing.
Following the previously released singles ‘Nervous,’ ‘New Person, Old Place,’ and ‘Man In Me,’ which all appear on History Of A Feeling, ‘Woman In My Heart‘ came out in one long stream-of-consciousness sweep. Throughout the track, Diaz’s resounding voice pierces through building guitar and percussion. “This song came out in a sort of waking dream while I was actively learning how to part with someone,” says Diaz. “It was hard enough not to miss/hurt/hate/fight/fuck/
The accompanying video, directed by Diaz and Jordan Bellamy and filmed in Colorado, visualizes Diaz’s feelings of unfamiliarity. It was made with no treatment and no plan, just impulse and excitement, letting the music be the guide. Diaz elaborates: “Stumbling in the dark in old abandoned gold mines, whispering to horses at 9500 feet and digging relentlessly, all of these physical motions called out to us as a signal in a desperate attempt to unearth the truth.”
Watch Madi Diaz’s “Nervous” Video
Watch the “New Person, Old Place” Video
PRAISE FOR MADI DIAZ
“An artist new to me that I hope you love.” – Bob Boilen, NPR Music
“Pure power pop awesomeness.” – The Needle Drop on ‘Nervous’
“This confessional indie rock ballad is the kind where you bop your head to the catchy melodies and chords and then read the lyrics and flinch a bit. It’s great.” – Stereogum on ‘Nervous’
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