Madeline Tully – A New Light (2026)
On Madeline Tully’s debut album, A New Light, the dynamism of relationships, whether bonds that build, destroy, or endure out of commitment or familiarity, helps her become more of herself. Tully communicates this with situations and music that are never static. In her songs, identities, power dynamics, and desires always morph. Tully remains the main character, always grounding herself, allowing loved ones to show Tully herself for the possibility of personal evolution.
The opener, ‘A New Light’, finds Tully engrossed in desire. Her father Steve Tully’s soprano sax belts sultry riffs that keep that desire blaring well after groovy hip-hop drums and bass, and a dusky guitar melody takes over. Delivered with a fantastical gaze and ravenous vulnerability, she confesses, “Wanna touch her hair/wanna kiss her cheek/while she curses me out”. She takes us through her fantasies like a friend confessing, in her POV, until she breaks out into yells, celebrating, “I saw her in a new light/she saw me in a new light”. Her self-acceptance possible from opening up and also letting the other person’s view show her herself.
Tully’s music spans DIY recordings of fingerpicking melodies and unpolished vocals, creating a visceral level of solitude to in-studio pieces that incorporate pop, jazz, country, or electronic, giving her meditations on universal themes an emotional grandiosity. The simple melody of ‘Bank Teller’ keeps you in Tully’s contemplation of what matters to her through guessing the thoughts of a teller she loves. ‘Wet Paint’ starts with a bopping swing and glossy country chords, energised by Clare Douglas’ drums and Aidan Kavanagh’s bass. Tully steps into confidence as the music rises, singing, “I am everything in between/I am just a body.” The Ray Charles-hinting pop ballad, ‘The Geese Are Flying North’, creates a cosy atmosphere where a loved one’s despair stuns her into awareness of who she doesn’t want to be.
‘washed away’ is about “trying to heal for the people you love”, she says via an Instagram post. Guest Liam Joe adds a pinch-perfect amount of intimacy, singing with Tully, who delivers lines like a conversation, with exhaustion, care, and firmness. She makes her words, “Put in the work/don’t assume you’re innocent”, feel like trustworthy advice instead of another task. ‘Fruit Flies’, another country-inspired big composition, shows how a toxic relationship nearly destroys her. She sings, “Fruit flies will live off the carnage of us/You live off the carnage of us”, singing carefree, committed to exploration.
Her curiosity and self-acceptance bring her back to herself. She moves on with observations and lessons learned or in need of revising in time. On A New Light, Madeline Tully’s music is dynamic, always focused and fully lived in.
Find out more about Madeline Tully on her Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Spotify.
This artist was sent to us by Obsidian PR.
