Australian singer Angie McMahon discusses new 'Light Sides' EP, songwriting, vulnerability ahead of Pittsburgh show

Australian singer/songwriter Angie McMahon has discovered joy in the little things of being on the road in the United States, whether it’s the novelty of the different snacks available at gas stations, good Mexican food or even experiencing snow here earlier this year.

“It’s pretty special. And it’s just so cool to play shows and know that people are coming to a show so far from home,” she said Tuesday in a Zoom call from Chicago. “It still kind of blows my mind. So yeah, impressions (of the U.S.) are good.”

That tour hits the area on Sunday, with a show at Thunderbird Music Hall in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. That comes fresh after Thursday’s announcement of her new EP, “Light Sides,” set for a Sept. 13 release date.

Coming on the heels of last year’s “Light, Dark, Light Again” album, most of the songs on the five-track companion EP were written and recorded in that album’s period but didn’t quite fit in the track listing.

“I just felt like they lived better in their own kind of little sister universe,” McMahon said. “So I think of it as a little sister to the album that I put out last year. And they’re all songs that I really love and that I really wanted to give the time of day to, so I’m really grateful that I’ve got the opportunity to do that.”

While she admitted it’s been a bit hectic to juggle the final preparations for a new release while being out on the road, it’s been worth it.

“If you’ve heard the album, they make a bit more sense as a family because each of them may be a sister song to something that lives on the record, but I think they feel like the cousins or the siblings,” she said. “I think that they do live together well, because they weren’t made with the idea of like, which one of these is going to be a hit and which one of these is going to be the first song on my second album? There’s a little bit less pressure around these songs. And so I think they’re a little bit more free.”

The first single, “Just Like North,” dropped last month and came from an online songwriting course, which gave her the prompt of writing a song in response to “You Can’t Have It All,” a poem by Barbara Ras.

“It was so great because at the time I was wanting to build the songs to make a record,” she said, “but I was running out of ideas or maybe just not feeling super motivated or not really clear on the direction to go in. It was the perfect situation, the perfect community, to insert myself into because a couple times a week they just fire a new songwriting prompt at you, and that was one of them.”

Another song from that effort was “Take Up Space,” written from the perspective of someone else, “someone that you have a hardship with, to try and write from how they might be feeling in the situation.”

“I think it was just really nice to do these exercises that offer a different perspective and help you come at your craft in a different way,” she said. “And it inspired me to keep wanting to do that. As I keep writing, as I keep growing as an artist, I definitely want to keep incorporating those things in because I think it just makes it more interesting and you find more things to say.”

McMahon and her band have only played one song from the EP live, “Just Like North,” but they’re working on “Untangling” next. As for what it’s like to debut a song live?

“Yeah, it’s scary for the whole band because we sort of feel naked, but that’s good,” she said. “I think it makes you feel alive as well. You got to do what you’re scared of. That’s it.”

One thing she hasn’t found intimidating is pouring her emotions in her lyrics, as she seeks a connection with her listeners.

“I actually don’t find it too scary. I probably used to find it more scary, but it’s definitely vulnerable. But I think that’s a lot of strength in vulnerability for me,” she said. “That’s where I feel connected to people, being open and honest about the (stuff) that I find hard, actually makes me feel connected to people. It’s like you can see people’s eyes light up and you can understand each other on a deeper level. So I really love that about the job.”

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Her debut album, “Salt,” which featured standout tracks like “Slow Mover” and “Pasta,” came out in 2019, but it took another four years for her sophomore album. The covid-19 pandemic played a factor, as did “a really difficult mental period” where she dealt with anxiety and shifting music industry relationships.

“I feel like I’m a slow person in decision-making as well, but I was just going through this life chapter that really needed to be felt, and I needed to heal through some of it, and I ended up writing some more songs through that,” she said. “So I think if I’d rushed the record, it wouldn’t have been what it ended up being. I had to live a little bit more in my life before I could finish it, I think. So, yeah, it just took a little bit of life. And then by the end of it, I had too many songs. So that’s what brings us to the EP. But it didn’t really go as quickly as I wanted to go. I was feeling the pressure. I was feeling like I’ve got to get another album out, and it’s got to be amazing. The universe just wanted me to take it slow. So that’s what I did.”

McMahon acknowledged anxiety about the future, and that comes through in her work.

”I feel called to write and speak about the climate and genocide and the things that are really weighing down on us in the current world that we’re in socially and politically,” she said. “It’s very hard to push on with this career without acknowledging those things because we’re all talking about them and thinking about them all the time. And it’s hard to dream and imagine a future without noting what is happening around us.

“So I struggle sometimes to put those things into songs. But when I feel called to, then I try and act on it. And I talk about it a bit at shows because I don’t want to pretend that stuff is not happening just for the sake of having fun. I want to, as an artist, be able to interact with those things and speak about those things and collectively be processing and healing what is our reality.”

With all the darkness in the world, it can be hard to find the light, but McMahon keeps looking for it.

“I think that’s maybe why I titled the album that way as a reminder that the light is always going to be there, even in the times when you feel like it’s really hard to see it. Because I do believe that it is always going to be there,” she said. “It’s always going to return. Everything is changing all the time, and everything is temporary, like that’s my faith system. But I don’t always see it. So I think I have created these pillars for myself that are around me all the time and singing about all the time as a reminder that, yeah, the feelings can pass.”