A CONVERSATION WITH... NELL MESCAL
Missed Reading and Leeds 2025? We got your back with our 13 artists to watch. Our final artist for this R&L season is Nell Mescal, an Irish singer-songwriter who’s wearing her heart on her sleeve (even if she hides from it sometimes).
Hey, I'm Nell Mescal, I'm an Irish singer-songwriter. I'm so excited to be here. It's my first Reading and Leeds and it did not disappoint. The sets that I've played have been amazing. I did two at Leeds and both were really fun. I did like an unplugged one, which is really, really sweet. I've got a new set-up on stage, so it's been nice to just do that with my friends and dance for fun.
When people find your music this weekend, what do you think your music says? Or what do you want it to say?
It's nice to play festivals like this where you can tell a lot of people are new. I feel like with my music, it's very me, just with melody. Maybe that's a bit cringe, but it's nice to be able to be totally myself on stage. I hope that some people will want to listen to me after, but I don't know. We'll see.
Would you say that you as a person and you as an artist are quite similar or are there things you leave out one way or the other?
Quite similar. Sometimes I think that maybe I should figure out some way to do a little bit of half and half. But I always land on this is just me and it's who I am.
So one of the things we're doing at the festival is 'Fuck, Marry, Kill' for your songs. You can use retire if you want a gentle word, too.
I’d fuck ‘Sweet Relief' that is coming out on my EP. I love her. I love her a lot. She's the newest one we've got, so I'm living with her a lot. I would marry my song 'The Closest We'll Get' because those strings at the start make me feel emotional every time I listen to it. Like Saoirse, who played violin on the track, is so incredible. What they did was so beautiful. I would marry that song for the rest of my life. I would gently put to rest my song 'Missing You' because she's had her day in the sun. It's time to go home! It's my 16-year-old self singing and I don't want to hear it anymore. She's going gently, she's done what she's needed to do.
Can you share more about the upcoming EP or is it under wraps until it drops?
It's called “The Closest We'll Get”, which is the title track that just came out. It's about a relationship that is caught somewhere in the grey area, caught between something more and something less. That lack of bravery on both parties. The EP actually starts with a song called 'Middle Man' that is maybe the darkest song I've got. But getting into the title track lifts the mood and I think you really go on a journey with where I was emotionally, which is really lovely for me to be able to look at it sort of optimistically.
Are there any songs that you've written, off the EP or otherwise, that you're incredibly proud of?
I think also another cringe answer, but I think the whole of my song, 'Thin.' I'm very glad to have put it out there and sometimes it feels like I didn't write it. Because it feels maybe too honest for what I even wanted to write at the time, and I found it quite daunting to write. Sometimes when I listen to it or I'm playing it, it doesn't feel like I wrote it. And so I can appreciate it a lot more, and I feel grateful for the conversations it's like evoked within the community and also even the conversation with myself and my own body. So I feel grateful for that song.
That's really beautiful, thank you for sharing that. We've had artists leave a question for the next artist, so a question that got left for you by Del Water Gap was “What's a lie that you told that you never got caught in?”
I live with my brother Donnacha and I lie to him probably every day about eating his food in the fridge. Recently, there was some pasta, and I ate it. Maybe he knows. That's not a really thrilling answer, but for me, if he finds out, it is game over. I could say it was a mouse, but he absolutely knows it's me. I've doubled down.
It's just a mouse eating your pasta, I'll agree. And what question would you leave for the next artist?
If you could have written any song, what song would you wish you'd have written? For me, it’s ‘Fire and Rain’ by James Taylor. I grew up listening to it with my mom. When I always reach for it now and I wish I wrote this. It makes me feel so many things. I love it. I feel like if I ever cover it, I need to learn to play the guitar even better.
And you’ll rock it. What's a question that you wish you got asked in interviews that you haven't?
Oh, that's meta. I'd love to be asked about the coolest part about recording something. Because I feel like you get asked about how it felt or what it was like. But there are so many moments that I often think about. I'll bring it back to the violin, the fiddle line on "The Closest We'll Get." It was the first song we recorded for the EP and I was introduced to these amazing musicians. I was working with Philip Weinrobe in New York and I was feeling quite overwhelmed with how lucky and excited I felt to be there. The musicians hadn't heard the music yet, so they were listening to it in real time and then would join in after. I remember Saoirse, who played the fiddle on it, did this line at the start where I literally felt the tears instantly in my eyes. I had to turn around. You know, they don't know you yet. They can know you're a crier on day three, but not on day one. And so I sucked the tears back in and turned back around. It's one of the most visceral moments I felt in a recording space. I love that moment.
Your EP was created in such a beautiful moment, honestly. So when can fans hear this new EP live?
So the EP comes out October 24th and then I'm going on a UK/ Ireland headline tour in November and December with my really great friend, CeCe Coakley. Her voice is maybe the most incredible thing I've ever heard. We're always giggling, and I feel like I need that. I'm just going to do a lot of prep for that and make it as great as we possibly can. I'm going to do some trips and do some writing on them. All of this, making music with my friends and making new friends, is such an incredible thing for me. I'm a little outgoing, with my Leo rising, but I'm also a Taurus. So when I really connect with someone, especially in music, it's so wonderful to me. I've got some really beautiful people around me that I get to spend my life with and feel at home with. In short, soon.