Episode 40 – Malena Cadiz
Wed. Sept 2, 11 am EST
For more than a few years now, singer-songwriter Malena Cadiz has been making a beautiful, dreamy brand of down-home folk that has belied her cosmopolitan NYC surroundings. Her last two albums leaned bluegrass with twangy guitars and banjo, intricate, organic percussion, and soothing strings while her voice exquisitely cleared a path through the enveloping sounds.
Her new album, Sunfair, is a departure, with Cadiz trying to anchor newfound stability amid many moving parts. She made an escape from NYC to California, specifically the vast, arid desert terrain of Joshua Tree. The soundscape of Sunfair mirrors that landscape. The sound is stripped, raw, sparse, and beautifully barren, hearkening to a newly unearthed inward solace. The album mostly follows the pattern of lead single “Goes Without Saying“: Rarely is Cadiz’s voice accompanied by anything other than her gorgeous finger-picked guitar and the slightest bit of reverb. She’s taken the serenity and simplicity of that environment and comfortably cloaked her voice in it.