Sad Songs, New Hope
With The Closest We’ll Get, Irish singer-songwriter Nell Mescal transforms heartbreak into growth, navigating the blurred lines between love and friendship. Recorded live with producer Philip Weinrobe, the EP captures raw emotion and newfound confidence, a cathartic portrait of a young artist stepping fully into her own voice.
Interview Patrick Clarke Photography JC VeronaNell Mescal’s new EP The Closest We’ll Get deals with knotty territory, the unsettling middle ground within a relationship that’s part friendship, part romantic, the push and pull between two parties and their failure to take action one way or the other. In person, however, she’s anything but evasive, speaking candidly about how the new record reflects a period of considerable personal growth, and helped channel a period of sadness and uncertainty into newfound resolution. She also discusses the joy of recording with one of her musical heroes, producer Philip Weinrobe, and how working on the record has coincided with a newfound sense of self-assurance, allowing her to look back on a dizzying few years with fresh clarity – all of which and more she discusses in depth below.
Hi Nell! The new EP seems like a big step forward. How do you think it differs from its predecessor?
I think what’s been most exciting over the past few years has been my personal growth. I feel quite different, like I’ve learned so much, and I that’s really come through in the music. I’m happy that I’m still walking alongside myself as I’m writing. I feel like it’s more me, because I’m more me.
Life is a constant getting to know yourself, right?
Totally. I wrote a song last week, and I didn’t realise that that was where I was in my headspace until I wrote it. Then it was all I thought about for a week. It was as if someone else wrote it for me, and now I was living it. Maybe I should book in more therapy sessions!
How do you think a listener can hear that sense of growth?
A lot of my songs get labelled as sad songs for sad girls or whatever, but I feel like, now more than ever, I’ve turned these sad songs into something hopeful. All of them were composed in the room as we were recording with musicians that had never heard the music before. Although it’s also funny, because although I talk about growth, I've never felt more like I did when I was in choir when I was eight than I did in this recording.
“When I walked into the room with Philip and all these amazing musicians, I felt like a child playing with the older kids — nervous but so excited.”
How so?
I felt so unprepared, in a beautiful way. My singing teacher was this wonderful woman. There were days where you’d walk in and all you know is that you’re going to have to sing today, and that’s the thing you’re good at. When I walked into the room with Philip [Weinrobe], the producer, and all these amazing musicians, it felt the same. I was nervous, I’ve never sung worse in my life than that first song, but it was so exciting. I felt like a child playing with the older kids.
Was it your intention going in to find a producer who works in that way?
The only producer I was dying to work with was Philip. I knew how he does it; he wants to create something that you could only have made that day, with no time for second guesses.
Does working with someone you have that much admiration for pile on the pressure?
I think so, but also, especially this year, I’ve never felt more like I’m in the right place, doing the right thing, even if it’s scary or frightening. As much as it was scary it was no more pressure than I had already put on myself otherwise.
“A lot of my songs get labelled as sad songs for sad girls, but now more than ever, I’ve turned those sad songs into something hopeful.”
Was there a sense of whiplash from how rapidly your career took off?
Nothing ever feels quick to me because I’m the most impatient person of all time. I’m scaling up the walls on a Sunday going ‘why isn’t it Monday?’ But looking back, I don’t think I gave myself enough credit for things I put myself through to make music. Like leaving my school, my parents, friends and comfort. Before if someone said, ‘it’s amazing to do that’, I was always like, ‘no, I just did what I did’. But now I look back and think, ‘fair play! I don’t know how I got through it!’
Did you have any sort of plan when you moved to London?
I had management, but when I dropped out, I just sent a letter to my principal saying, ‘Friday will be my last day in school. Goodbye’. I was working in a hotel, and I said, ‘I need to work as many shifts as you can possibly give me, because I’ve booked a flight for London next month.’ I literally didn’t have a place to stay until five days before. I just put my face up on Spareroom where someone could swipe me like Tinder, and thought, ‘I’ll accept wherever.’
You said that although you recorded the new EP in happy circumstances, it was written from a sad place. Can you tell us more?
I went through a really painful friendship that was probably something more. Two people that were never going to be brave enough to talk about it. It’s really difficult and isolating because you can only talk about it with a few people, you’re walking around crying in Tesco, but you can’t tell anyone why because it’s not a real thing. Then you freak yourself out, and think ‘God, I’m a crazy person. Why can’t I just be in love with someone and it be normal?’ I was writing these songs in real time, about this person. And these people exist in real life as well! I was a bit more scared to write these songs because these were people that I was facing every day.
I can understand that trepidation…
Yeah, but then I kind of think – you can’t have this relationship with the girl who’s definitely going to write a song about it and expect her not to! You have to give yourself grace to write about the things that you’re going through, just as long as you’re honest!
That personal growth we were talking about to begin with is a never-ending thing. So what’s next?
I'm such a yapper that I’ve probably spoken too much! For now I’m just really excited to go on tour in November and December and play it for people, see their reactions in real time. For me, that’s the biggest joy in life.
“You can’t have this relationship with the girl who’s definitely going to write a song about it and expect her not to.”
Team credits
Interview: Patrick Clarke
Photography and Creative Direction: JC Verona
Styling: Kate Barbour
Hair & Make Up: Hair and Make Up: Dani Guinsberg using Leonor Greyl haircare and Lisa Elridge makeup
Film: Timothy Heinrich
Stylist Assistant: Lauryn Jean Doherty
Special thanks to Simon Hargreaves
READ NEXT
