Angie McMahon’s upcoming album Light, Dark, Light Again promises some very revealing, personal songs. It’s not here yet, but I predict her latest single “Fireball Whiskey” will be one of the highlights. It’s so intimate, with confessional lyrics about managing anxiety that really shine against its minimalist musical backdrop. After it fades out, don’t be surprised if you have to take a moment to take it all in before rejoining the world.
“‘Fireball Whiskey’ touches on using alcohol to navigate my anxiety, and also just realising over time that caring for your mental health is so important and will affect the way you can love and be with people,” she admitted. “I think I’m afraid of change and didn’t know that about myself, but the process of writing this one helped bring it to light.”
Angie took charge of the video, editing footage captured by friends on lands belonging to the Wurundjeri and Bunurong peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Chumash tribe in California.
“I’ve never edited a video before, but I used this Handycam footage taken by my friends to try and tell a visual story of dancing and swaying myself out of the darkness,” she said. “Travelling to this mountain range outside of Ojai felt like visiting a place where all my silly little worries and bruises could be transformed into something open and time could be suspended and I could empty everything out again, and that’s the reward for leaving behind what I loved but wasn’t right for me.”
Angie wraps up a string of sold-out shows here and overseas with a gig in Naarm/Melbourne tonight. You might not be able to score tickets now, but I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t announce more local shows to coincide with the album’s release on October 27. Watch this space.
Image used with permission from Super Duper; credit: Taylor Ranston