From Bristol to Japan and back again, Rachael Dadd takes us through the looking glass on her new album, Kaleidoscope.

On October 14th, Bristol-based Rachael Dadd released the gorgeous Kaleidoscope, her second album for Memphis Industries, following 2019's acclaimed Flux, for which she was on tour when the pandemic hit. Dadd, like so many others who were cut off from their communities and struggled through the lockdowns, turned inward, seeking solace through music and connection through songwriting. She hopes that when people hear Kaleidoscope, it will help them feel less alone and that “they will feel held and find space to breathe, grieve and celebrate.”

We caught up with Rachael for a candid conversation about what makes her tick and what Kaleidoscope means to her. Rachel is currently on tour supporting the album — to see if Rachel and her band are playing near you and to buy tickets, click here.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and something about the music you make? 

Hello, I`m Rachael Dadd. I’m from Bristol (although grew up in Farnham and then Winchester). The music I make is song-based music. Often the lyrics are a bit like a minimalist painting or a Japanese Haiku, but sometimes more like a ballad. The music itself can be complex, arranged collaboratively with my super-talented band friends. There is nearly always warmth, and each song, even those addressing darkness, is imbued with hope.

How did it all start?

Maybe the day when I was feeling those really strong teenage emotions — when you like a boy at school, and you’re in a spin over it, and you’re getting it out on the piano making up chords, then one particular day your mum says, why don’t you try singing over your chords Rachael. My mum didn’t get to choose a creative path, but always, I think wishes she had had the chance. 

We love your new album, Kaleidoscope. Can you tell us a bit more about how this album came about?

I wrote a lot of songs during the lockdown. I was mainly single parenting my two sweet boys through it, who at the time were 5 and 7. I carved out a few hours every afternoon for myself but also to keep my spirits up so I could be a kind and loving mum for them. Oto the youngest would come and say, “I’m hungry”, and I’d say, “ask Shuki to climb up on a chair and get you the oat cakes out of the middle cupboard”. They learnt some independence, and I got time to stay connected to myself and also to my bandmates who I’d send demos to, and also to the future people who would listen in a future time. I was trying to keep the hope that we would all get through the disconnection - I was keeping my eye and mind, and heart on the reconnection. 

So, when it happened, initially in a practice room at the Jam Jar in Bristol with drummer Rob Pemberton, bassist Alex Heane and synth player Charlotte West, it was every bit as joyful and cathartic as I had imagined. The connection process of arranging and recording, and producing the record with my band has been a two-year joyful journey, with others joining us — my long-time music partners Emma Gatrill and Marcus Hamblett embellishing the sound with their multi-instrumental skills and new friend Alex Garden bringing the layers of strings and taking things to the next level, and Maja Lena adding vocals to the paired down album track White Snow. So musically, it is a meeting of creative minds, with everyone in my band bringing their piece of the magic. I worked particularly closely with drummer Rob Pemberton who, since the lockdown, opened his own studio in Stroud and has quickly developed into a really competent producer with his own style and sound world. And now I’m connecting on a greater level with a wide circle of people internationally who are getting to hear our album and who are getting in touch. Music is like glue, and without it, I would feel very alone in this world I think. 

What’s it like working with Memphis Industries? 

Matt and Ollie are two brothers who run a tight ship together. They write quick-fire questions and answers in emails. They are like a well-oiled machine, and I have much respect for their super knowledge of the music industry and their organized way of running Memphis Industries. While other musicians have suffered huge delays on their vinyl, I have had no such issues. Things seem to be going really well! 

What’s your songwriting process like?

I get times, where I’m feeling like my thoughts are lucid, flowing unhindered, where there’s some sort of a spark like I’m able to tap into some kind of unknown exciting possibility, make something new, uncover something, find a new gem or something, find a new answer and a piece of solace. It’s all fairly abstract and open. I don’t go to the piano or guitar with a specific theme in mind. The picture usually reveals itself bit by bit. A pattern of notes will come, then a few words will come that I don’t feel I’ve consciously chosen, and then it makes me see a place in my mind's eye, often a place where nature and biodiversity is healthy and thriving, but sometimes there’s a darkness. It could be somewhere up high where the vista is huge and the sky vast and full of possibility. I might even be out in space. With the image come specific feelings, and often it's a process helping me to accept a difficult truth and seek some solace or some hope, which I am then consciously wanting to share with people. 

With these notes, a melody, a picture in my mind's eye and the feelings they all bring, and the desire to communicate and connect, then the song can form and be revealed fully.

What advice would you give anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to you?

 Even if you feel inhibited to start collaborations, which I have done in the past, work through your fears and try instigating some kind of meeting of musical magic with someone and see what sparks can flow! It starts somewhere and gives you the joy and feeling of connection to allow it to grow into something that you are not in charge of. It is very liberating and freeing if you can loosen your grasp over preconceptions and control of what it should be.

What inspires your music?

Everyday life, the magic and possibility of the unknown, the playfulness of my children, the music my friends make, my local community and characters like Terry down the road who sits outside his house drawing and feeding the pigeons and telling jokes and giving treats to all the kids in the street, the sky in all its colours and shades, the green spaces near my home like Ashton Court and Leigh woods, the leaf mulch in the rain at this time of year, the hedgehog that’s just moved into our garden, the lollipop lady Lily who works four jobs and has six kids, my housemate Sarah who is wise and spiritual and is also an amazing therapist, my inner world.

Where do you call home right now, and how does it influence your music?

Southville in Bristol, and I just realized I just answered this question in my last answer! It’s my immediate world here and my existence of everyday life that mainly feeds my songwriting. I’d like all my neighbours and the people I meet on the school run to know that! I just played a local unplugged show with my band at my very local record shop Friendly Records, and I gave out sunflowers to my kids and local dear friends to say thank you. I also gave sunflowers to my band. There are lots of other people I would like to give sunflowers to. 

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it is important to you.

I haven’t recently been listening to anything directly from my younger years, I don’t think, but I’ve dived back into Laura Viers and love her new album very much. Oh, and I had a Pavement phase recently, actually, inspired by a friend who is in his forties but still dresses like an Indie kid. He also writes very beautiful music and works on the locks. 

What do you hate right now?

I hate housework and the tangible reality of all the chores a mum (or even simply an adult) has to do. Although on the days when I’m on top of everything and feeling a sense of control then, I love the feeling of having successfully risen to the massive challenges of parenthood and adulthood. The thing that weighs most heavily is the destruction of the natural world and having to teach my kids about this, so they are prepared. I see it play out as anxiety in my youngest, who is a nature boy at heart and runs free when immersed in the natural world. My eldest is happy-go-lucky, but I worry about reality dawning on him when he is the age to leave home, but then he has an engineer’s mind like my dad and brother, so might just go and invent something that will help fix the mess. He has a spark and energy that could possibly always remain undefeated. And my youngest might also find the solace he needs. These fears for our kids as parents are always there, and I send solidarity to all parents out there and all hope for the new generation. 

What do you love right now?

I love all the people in my life and the feeling of connection. I also love the connection to myself, all parts of myself, which I have been working on consciously, making an effort to look inside and heal and learn to embrace my faults and turn my shame into love. I have the recent realization that I am projecting this onto everyone else, seeing the good in everyone rather than the bad. Feeling the love over fear.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever played?

This is very hard to answer as I have played so many gigs that I have loved and called my favourite. One was Blue Sky Festival, where I led a choir of children to join me on five songs and performed with my band Rob and Alex, with the kids on the stage and soloists using the microphone (some for the first time in their lives). I would very much like to do more gigs with choirs. I run the Bring Your Own Baby choir in Bristol now and plan to get them up on stage, soon hopefully, and with their babies hopefully. 

What’s the biggest gig you’ve played?

Probably Glastonbury festival. It seems to get more epic each year. Sometimes the big stuff overwhelms me. I spent a lot of time ducking into the sauna this year! I prefer intimate settings over the big crowds, to be honest. But I do also experience the buzz of big crowds, it can just easily take a turn towards anxiety, especially since the lockdown. Festivals like Smugglers Festival in Deal are just the right size for me. Apparently, 150 people is the maximum we humans can feel we can know and, therefore, feel safe to thrive. That resonates very strongly with me. And that’s about the capacity of my shows currently. So, if things can stay where they are, I will feel blessed. But also, who’s to say I wouldn’t love playing to 5000? I’d have to try it and see!

Is there a particular place in the world you would love to play a gig one day?

I’ve played across Europe, and I’ve spent ten years on and off touring Japan. I love getting to meet people from other cultures and connect through the common language of music. It is a real privilege and honour that I have got to do this in the past, and I am very excited to do it again, with things in Europe on the horizon for 2023. I don’t have any plans or expectations to play anywhere else, as I have learnt to lower my expectations since the pandemic. But if someone offered me a tour in Scandinavia (which has been on the cards since Flux’s release in 2019), then I would be extremely excited to try the hot springs and see the landscape and meet the people. If someone asked me to tour the States, which fans of my music sometimes ask about, then I would feel hesitant because I had a bad experience there in my twenties where we were kind of duped! I’d love to tour more rurally and visit places in the UK I’ve never been. 

What comes next in the Rachael Dadd story?

We will be celebrating Kaleidoscope a lot, playing a big tour that kicks off in Nottingham on the 28th of October and culminates with a double album launch show in Stroud on the 2nd of December with my dear friend Maja Lena who writes the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in my recent years, and, like me, has also made a new album produced by Rob Pemberton.

Apart from touring further afield next year, who’s to say exactly what comes next beyond that, but I already have new songs arranged with my core band members Rob, Alex and Charlotte, and so I guess people can expect another record at some point, but these things can take years!

What upcoming 2022 music releases are you most excited about?

Maja Lena on the 2nd of December, and Rozi Plain in January 2023. Beyond the music my friends make, I’m not sure what releases are coming. But I’m sure I will have many lovely surprises! 

Is there any new music from 2022 you have been enjoying?

Here is just some: Yama Warashi (another dear friend), Ichiko Aoba (who I was lucky enough to open for in Bristol), Orlando Weeks, Katy J Pearson, Emma Jean-Thackray, Will samson (another dear friend), Mesadorm, Kathryn Joseph, Laura Views, Jow (a local bristol duo of trumpet and cello), Fourtet, Gemma Rodgers who I very recently discovered, Koreless, Aldous Harding, Stevie Toddler (a bristol friend), Kae Tempest who I am listening to right now! And finally, The Magic Lantern (one of my favorites and a dear friend, although he released his album last year but I want him on the list, and he’s joining me for two dates on my tour: Brighton on the 24th Nov and Faversham on the 26th) I listen to the Blind Boy podcast every week and I have just discovered All About Sound by Lemn Sissay which has been super inspiring. I also listen to the radio show Double Bind on Noods radio in Bristol, which is made by my bandmate Charlie West.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Please listen to the music of Emma Gatrill in my band, who will be releasing new music soon, hopefully, and Marcus Hamblett, who makes amazing albums and remixes. Also, listen to Wisp, which is the folk-jazz trio of Alex Heane, Charlotte West and trumpeter Celeste Cantor-Stephens, and the album of Amy May Ellis, also produced by Rob Pemberton, which is a sonic joy to behold. Also, listen to the other bands of Alex Garden, my violinist who is heavily involved in the folk/classical scene: Tarren and Sonda.