A Chat with Madisine (25.07.24)
Inspired by life in its totality, from the gritty parts to hopeful joy, singer-songwriter Madisine evokes raw emotion through intimate connections with his music. The brainchild of Matteo Zanotti, Madisine is a twirl of hypnotic grunge where you can feel and heal; in fact, he asks the question “Are you healing” on his Spotify bio. This is our introduction to Madisine but, oddly enough, listening to his sound is like lying comfortably with your best friend instead of making a new acquaintance. We speak with him about his new EP Sick Lie. EP 1622, new plans, music videos and more.
OSR: What drew you to music? Why did you decide to pursue a musical career?
Madisine: I’ve always been drawn to music since I was a kid. Always surrounded or in an environment where music was playing, I remember my mother blasting Nirvana in the car and singing together while we were going somewhere or my grandmother putting tapes in the record player and dancing around the house listening to old Italian music so I feel like It has always felt natural for me to express my feelings through singing or listening to music.
OSR: You are about to release your debut EP Sick Lie. EP 1622 following four singles. Why the album, why not stick with releasing singles like some artists do?
Madisine: Well, ‘Sick Lie’ (the song) was the first song I’ve ever recorded, I think when I was 16 or 17 and it remained untouched since then. I really liked the chords of it, so much that I wrote and recorded ‘Liar’ a few months later using the same chords but inverting the order. Then came the idea of writing a longer story with a lyrical theme but also a musical theme in which all the songs kinda use all the same chords and notes without changing too much.
So to create a story that can be listened to as singles songs but also can be listened to from start to finish as a ‘one long song’ so to speak. This is why I invite everyone who’s reading this to try and listen to it in order as it was meant to be, it’s a project of really old experiences as a teenager (‘Sick Lie’) mixed with an older version of me looking back at it (‘Live with It’) with different eyes and different point of views.
OSR: I assume that producing an LP has far more challenges than producing a single. What was the production process like for Sick Lie. EP 1622, and how did you overcome challenges if there were any? Also, what was the most exciting thing about creating a larger release?
Madisine: The difficulties came in obviously trying to use the same chords, notes, and overall mood without changing it too much but still creating different songs at the risk of sounding boring and the songs sounding all the same. Which is fair, I was aware of the risks in doing that but it was actually very fun and exciting to try and create this EP instead of just working on singles. It was an experiment of a story I wanted to tell.
OSR: You filmed music videos for the lead singles, ‘My Truth’ and ‘Live With It’. What was the most exciting and least exciting thing about creating the videos? What was the filming process like and how did you deal with any particular difficulties?
Madisine: ‘Live With It’ was the first one I did, It was shot by me and my mother in a field near where I live, I wanted to show where I was starting from which is being an independent artist with basically no budget, no labels, starting from zero and just having fun you know, just shooting something simple, putting it out there, and hopefully people will connect to it.
‘My Truth’ on the other hand, I wanted to do things more seriously. With the themes of the song being domestic violence and abuse, I felt like we had to show and tell a great story in the best way possible.
I immediately asked Lulù Withheld to collaborate on the project and direct the video. We met in 2019 for her short movie Leon Was Here in which I was an actor. I really liked her style in that short movie and I thought she was perfect for directing this story, she was super excited to take part in it and we truly had an amazing crew and amazing actors to work on it.
The most challenging part was shooting it in December, it was very cold and I got sick right after finishing the shooting but it was so much fun so I don’t regret anything.
OSR: What do you hope people take from this EP?
Madisine: I hope people will understand the story of it and what I wanted to create as a whole, but mostly to connect to it and enjoy it.
OSR: What significance does the EP have for you?
Madisine: The EP means closure to me. It’s something very old and It’s been a long time coming. It’s like weights off your shoulders. I’m glad to put it out there so I can work on new things. I can’t wait!
OSR: If you had to introduce a new listener to your music, which single would you choose and why?
Madisine: Depends. If they want something upbeat I’d say ‘Live with It’ and If you wanna chill and relax I’d say ‘Let Go’.
OSR: How would you describe yourself as a person?
Madisine: That’s a hard question. As of right now I’d say confused, I’m a confused fella. I’m in the middle of understanding where I’m headed, and where I want my life to be. What I wanna do and what I can do in order to achieve that. So yeah pretty much confused but I’ll figure it out.
OSR: What can we expect from Madisine in the future?
Madisine: A lot of new music. Tons of new music. I’m working on a lot of new stuff and going on tour would be nice.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Madisine: Keep reading stories from other fellow artists, It’s important to support underground and independent artists, blogs and magazines too. Thank you for your support and for reading all of this, see ya.
Many thanks to Madisine for speaking with us. Find out more about Madisine on his Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
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