Folk Archive - Nadine de Macedo

Toward Tomorrow – Overcoming a hard life

Nadine — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

With “Toward Tomorrow,” we’re releasing a melancholic song about alcohol and drug abuse. You can find it on all music platforms now. “Toward Tomorrow” is a song about a man rediscovering himself after years of alcohol and drug abuse. It is the story of a man abused in childhood by his father who falls in with the wrong crowd in high school and starts to use alcohol and drugs to deal with his emotional pain. He hits bottom through not being able to work and having to live homeless off the land in the California desert. This song is a mournful elegy to a life that was almost taken away, but now starting to find itself and reclaim its worth. The song was written several months ago when Andrew Russell and Michael Gutierrez-May participated in a random collaboration game. This time, Andrew played all the instruments, while Michael wrote the lyrics. It was a new experience for me to be involved solely as a producer and arranger. It went surprisingly well, as I already worked on several projects with Andrew and appreciate Michael’s songwriting. We didn’t want to keep “Toward Tomorrow” to ourselves any longer and have finally uploaded it to all streaming platforms. It’s also available on YouTube, of course!

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Fading Light – A folk ballad for spring

Nadine — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In midst of all my electronic music, I would like to share a brand-new song with you. “Fading Light” is another collaboration between me and Michael Karns. This time, it is a classic folk song. I sometimes play guitar to relax. But the last couple of weeks and months, I found myself hitting the wall as I don’t make much progress with bar chords. So I tried some alternate tunings, where chord shapes change. My little improvisation in open A emerged into a fingerstyle folk song, where Michael felt inspired to contribute lyrics and vocals. Later, We Happy Few joined with a slide guitar, creating this memorizable intro. As my release schedule is quite full of new and old songs, we tried to squeeze that into April, because I have some BIG plans for May. “Fading Light” always felt like a spring song, especially as it’s discussing the changes of times. You can find “Fading Light” on all streaming services and in my Bandcamp subscription now. I hope you enjoy that little deviation!

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Take The Black – Epic medieval folk metal

Nadine — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 17:05:00 +0000

When I wrote “Pyromancer” at the beginning of 2021, I could never have guessed finding a band for fantasy and medieval inspired folk metal in a few hours. The very same band decided to record a successor called “Take The Black”. Are you ready for an epic folk metal fight? Everything started on my classical guitar while playing arpeggios. I suddenly had the urge to include bagpipes into a song. Suddenly, I remembered Jordan‘s words about “Pyromancer“. He said, this song reminds him of medieval villagers fighting with forks and shields against an evil tyrant. Why don’t we just turn this idea into a song? While Jordan focussed on lyrics and vocal melody, I continued with the instrumental. After a few days this song turned into a 6-minute epic including a bagpipe, an acoustic guitar, a heavy metal band and an orchestra. “Take The Black” turned into the biggest arrangement yet written. Musically and lyrically, we were inspired by fantasy role play games and novels. We asked Stephan and Simon to join us, as they worked with us on “Pyromancer”. I am happy that they both helped us with bass and electric guitars. Tom joined us as lead guitarist, adding a flawless and epic solo. We had to adapt the key and tuning to make it playable on a real bagpipe. However, we didn’t find a guest musician, so we continued recording with virtual instruments instead. You can listen to our song on YouTube and SoundCloud. We are very pleased for your comments and like and hope that enjoyed some epic medieval metal music!

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New album “Quarterlife Blues” available

Nadine — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 11:00:00 +0000

My new album “Quarterlife Blues” is now available on Bandcamp. It contains all the blues, jazz and soul songs of the last two years that were recorded in international collaborations. The album deals with quarterlife crisis and typical challenges of young people, especially millennials. Of course, rock is also a part of it. About the album “Quarterlife Blues” During the last months, plenty of songs were written in collaborations with musicians all over the world. I decided to compile them into stylistically consistent albums, so “Quarterlife Blues” will be the first one containing blues, rock’n’roll and jazz music. This album is about a crisis most young people in their 20s and 30s go through. In this age, you have to take important decisions and feel a bit insecure if things don’t turned out the way you imagined. You can easily find yourself in the quarter life crisis, when others may have a better job, a stable relationship or successful hobbies. Thus, most of the lyrics are about decisions, regrets and new beginning. Sometimes with a bit of dark humour. My focus on this album is composition and production, but I also played piano and guitar on a couple of songs. Please forgive me if not everything sounds perfect. I started to learn the guitar in 2021, and it raised my interest for blues and jazz music. Something I would have never tried if I stayed on my piano. This album could not exist with nearly 30 international musicians. Thanks a lot for your help, ideas and stems. You rock! The tracklist Compiling the tracklist of my album “Quarterlife Blues” has been the hardest part of the whole project. Though being more stylistically consistent than my previous album “Going My Way”, I had a hard time telling a convincing story over many different genres. We touched rock’n’roll, blues rock, blues, ballad, swing and acoustic jazz. The story starts with a long list of complaints and pushes the narrator into a severe crisis. In the end, they realize, that it’s better to take life not so serious and enjoy some aspects like a new relationship or watching the rain. It’s been important for me that the last song has a positive message. Quarterlife Blues by Nadine de Macedo What I learned There are many possibilities to collaborate with musicians, and you always have to think about the setting in that particular song. Working on “No Time For Blues”, “High Noon” and “Disco Blues” reminded of a jam session, where every musician had lots of freedom for improvisation. Even “Blackout” consists of plenty of licks, I would never play the same way as on the recording. In contrast, “How are you?” and “I’m not angry” are well-structured and arranged songs, that follow a pop music approach. Last but not least, “Fit Right In”, “Overjoyed”, “Love Lasts Forever” and “Rainy Sunny Afternoon” were a technical deep dive into sparse arrangements. Getting the maximum out of a handful of tracks has been very new to me, as I came from full band recordings with 30–50 tracks. Actually, only “Hero” and “Quarterlife Blues” have this huge amount of tracks. Same as I never worked with brass, harmonica and double bass recordings before. Where can I find the album? You can download the full album “Quarterlife Blues” with hidden tracks and booklet on Bandcamp. You can listen to some songs on YouTube and SoundCloud. As usual, we are happy for your donation, radio plays and comments. We haven’t planned to publish this album on commercial streaming platforms.

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I’m not angry – a stomping folk blues song

Nadine — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0000

With “I’m not angry”, I’d like to present a song that is completely different from my usual business. I had a lot of fun though! Angry stomping meets folk and blues music, and clever lyrics. Some months ago, we rolled the dice and teamed up for a random collaboration. This time, Geoff Matthews sent me lyrics and asked me to compose a song. The lyrics are about a bad breakup. After reading his lyrics, I immediately heard the angry stomping of a young woman and grabbed my acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, my performance chops are not good enough to do a proper take, so I am happy that Albert Luck jumped in and played it better than I could ever nail it on my own. Alyssa Womack had the perfect voice for the song. Her dark, emotional timbre gave the song that special something. We are proud to show you the fruits of our collaboration. As usual, “I’m not angry” can be listened on YouTube and SoundCloud. I will be a part of my upcoming album. I cannot tell you when and what exactly, but more information will drop shortly.

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