Getting to know Angie McMahon

Based in Melbourne, Angie McMahon has a talent for writing seriously hook-laden indie songs. We asked her to tell us about herself:

I am… a 23 year-old snail-girl, transitioning into adult life with lots of intense feelings. I’ve got a lot of gratitude for where things are at with my music and my life at the minute, but also feel I’ve got a long way to go. I’m finishing my album this month with the help of some special people, learning a lot about that process and trying not to turn into a fruit loop.

“Missing Me” is… an angrysad pop song, the second single from my album, and one that I really love to perform. I wrote it about two years ago, and I called it ”Missing Me” because I couldn’t think of a cool or clever title at the time. And then I forgot to change the title before telling everybody that that’s what it’s called. I used to feel a bit juvenile, singing the lyric ”you’d better be missing me”, but now I like it. I try to be mature and level-headed in real life (usually) but on stage I can sing a song like this and unapologetically be a drama queen, and that’s a nice treat.

Home is… dogs, doonas, wine, crying, lots of music, and my family. I live in the house I grew up in, and have a lot of love for the constants in my life Mum’s Bolognese, Dad’s advice, dog hair everywhere, the view out my bedroom window. Everything else is changing pretty quickly, but home is home. Also sorry, doonas are duvets (I think Aussies are the only people who say doona!)

I spend too much time… feeling cold but not putting a jumper on, or feeling hot but not taking my jumper off.

I’m currently listening to…­ Bon Iver’s latest album, 22, A Million. I don’t actually know what most of the songs are called because they have strange characters and I’m too lazy to learn the names. I only know how to type the title of my favourite song on the album (715 – CRĘĘKS). He really trolled us all with these titles. But anyway, can’t stop coming back to these songs, the instinctive way that he communicates a feeling, and the really poetic lyrics that you can’t even properly hear sometimes. I recently discovered the Bon Iver reddit threads where people analyse his writing. You can waste a lot of time in there, heads up. But then again, I don’t think it’s a waste, he’s a genius.

I’ve never… done a cartwheel, and I never will. Terror.

It might surprise people to learn that… I think I’m pretty terrible at practicing music, which is actually a very important part of my job, but it’s tricky. You become so comfortable in the things that you’re good at, like writing a song or singing or playing a certain way, and you just want to hold onto that confidence that you’ve built. But I know that to do this job, I have to keep working on all the skills, learn more about playing guitar and vocal technique and writing better, but I’m actually just shit at forcing myself to practice the craft! So I’m working on it.

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Keep up to date with Angie on Insta.

Interview by Bobby Townsend. Photo by Rhea Caldwell.