Torres, aka Georgia-born Mackenzie Scott, first appeared in 2013 with the release of her self-titled debut, Torres. She was a songwriter of the new school: one who cut her teeth in Nashville, studying songwriting in college, and filtered it through her raw, emotive voice that had so many drawing up all the right kind of comparisons (PJ Harvey, anyone?).
That record, written in any spare moments her school life would permit, was a perfect product of a thoughtful, intelligent 20-something, dealing with disappointment and rejection from the outside world.
Sprinter, her sophomore album, was released earlier this May. It is a raw, emotional journey through all the highs and lows one would expect from a 24-year-old, yet restrained and controlled in a way far beyond her years. Perhaps the most striking difference between the two albums is the central theme of Sprinter: Scott’s own history with The Baptist Church.
“I was in the Church my whole life until I left for college. It’s kind of in my blood,” she says on a call from Nashville, her first show of the tour. “I avoided that in my early songwriting because I wasn’t far enough removed [from the Church] to process and write about it.”
Unlike most instances when religion comes up in popular music, Scott does not lean to one side in particular. She prefers an equal, reflective approach, most of which is softened with the sepia glow of nostalgia. Take “Son You Are No Island”, a brooding meditation that has Scott playing the voice of God, she says, “to convey a perspective that was punishing, but also nurturing, and loving and understanding. A bit of tough love, I guess.”
She delves both into love and hate on the title track “Sprinter”, in which she sings, “The Baptist in me chose to run / But if there’s still time to choose the sun, I’ll choose the sun”. Once again, we see a woman torn between a familiar past and a brighter future.
“Because of the transition into adulthood, I’ve been having nostalgia, flashbacks. You just sort of regress,” she says. “All of a sudden I just want to watch all of the cartoons I grew up watching, and I just want to eat sugar cereal! [The Church] upbringing was a part of that. It made its way back into my consciousness.”
Sprinter was recorded in a “creepy yet comfortable” abandoned nursery in Dorset, England, with Rob Ellis, formerly the drummer in PJ Harvey’s backing band, and the “only person I had in mind to make this record with me.” Ellis brought in Harvey’s bassist Ian Olliver and Adrian Utley of Portishead to help sculpt the instrumental landscape, allowing Scott’s songwriting chops to work their magic.
The music of Torres has never been described as “sunny”, or “joyful”, but there is something very radiant about Scott. She is full of laughter and ease, able to entertain embarrassing questions about whether she can relate to the soapy television show Nashville.
“There’s other stuff to watch that isn’t going to make me feel like a piece of shit,” she laughs.
And what she loves about songwriting?
“If you have that hook, that melody, that gives you the freedom to explore whatever you want to explore, lyrically!”
Scott may be the perfect balance of darkness and light. And while Sprinter may read heavy for some, it is ultimately coming from a very warm place, because Scott has embraced her past, not abandoned it.
“If anything I’m more spiritual than I ever was,” she says. “But I did it wrong my whole life!”
Sometimes, running away from something will take you right back to where you came from.
In Scott’s case, it is a blessing.
“The majority of my life, I didn’t feel at home in my own skin,” she admits. “I always felt like a disappointment. At this point in life, I guess I love myself for real now. I think that just translates [into my songwriting].”
• Torres plays Electric Owl on May 17 with special guests. Doors at 8pm, show at 9pm, advance tickets $13 at Ticketweb.
