FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Gretel — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Wielocha

Gretel

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I have covered this artist before…

PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Wielocha

under her former name of Gretel Hänlyn. As Gretel, I do think that this is a new carnation. Her debut album, Squish, came out in April. I will end with a review of it. It takes me to the subject of the Mercury Prize, who announced their shortlist recently. Very little in the way of newer artists and debut albums. I would have thought an artist like Gretel would have been in the running, as Squish has the quality and calibre to sit with the dozen albums that were selected. In any case, I am eager to spend some virtual time with an amazing artist. Hailing from west London, I have been a fan for years now. I will get to a few interviews with her. A new one from CLASH is especially interesting. Let’s start with DORK and their fascinating chat with Gretel. They write how, with Squish, she “ditched perfectionism and made a record in five days that embraces spontaneity and the freedom of not knowing everything”:

“It's a record which people have been asking her about for the last five years since the release of 'Slugeye' in 2021. Ironic, then, that the album should take all of five days to make.

"It would have been fab if it came out two years ago," she smiles, "it would have been good to get some stuff off my chest, and I could have just been churning out music, but that's not where I was at. The music didn't write itself that way. It just happened the way it happened, and I love it for that."

"On my second EP ['Head of the Love Club'], there was a lot of imitation of bands that I looked up to, but with this record, I was doing all this stuff live for the first time, so I was just so focused on it not sounding bad. In that way, it became kind of reference-less, or maybe more self-referential."

Drifting away from what she knows best ultimately set Gretel free, focusing on the messaging behind the songs rather than the most polished sonics.

Tracks like 'The Perfect Body', an exploration of Gretel's past experience with eating disorders, or visceral reflection on impending doom 'Fire Blooming Trees' are set alight by Gretel's knife-edge delivery of lyrics that can split you in two, with the more natural, organic instrumentation simply highlighting that this is an album reflecting what it is to be human in the modern world.

The title itself takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to situations that could otherwise pull you under. Shared by the opening track, one which reverberates with a high BPM expectant energy that sets up a record just on the verge of ripping itself apart, 'Squish' is a soft-edged word that represents something much deeper.

"It's about putting things into a box that don't deserve to be – like, I'm a human being, how can you sum me up? How can you shove me into one album? There's too much to be said and too much that I want to do, so this is as much as I could get into one album; that's why every song is the maximum version of what it is."

There's sometimes an assumption that songwriting is a means of catharsis, of dealing with whatever trauma or pain you've grown through. When we ask Gretel if that was the case for this album, the answer is: "No."

"I wrote from a confused place. I just write whatever comes to mind, which means I've got no idea what I'm writing about until I finally listen back to what I've written two months later."

She adds, "Actually, what did help me understand myself was picking the track listing and seeing all these different aspects of what it is to be a young woman, seeing that I had successfully represented it as far as I could. I looked at it like, 'Yeah, that's pretty much who I am right now', for better or for worse."

Across the process, 'Squish' was never taken too seriously. Of course, Gretel wanted it to be the best it could be, but she was equally aware that this was the first step on what appeared to be a long and exciting career. In that way, any small mistakes or decisions that made their way onto the record that she would now change are nothing to worry about; "It can't be perfect, can it? Otherwise, it would be boring!"

One of the other bonuses of having the first album written and ready to be set free is that it's allowed Gretel to focus on the next thing, whatever and whenever that may be. She lets slip that writing has occurred, so it would be rude of us not to ask at least a little something about it.

"It's going to be still the same thing, this album one kind of rawness," she hints, "but I can see myself reintroducing electronic elements; I was very stingy on synths in this album because I wanted to keep it as gritty and unpolished as possible.

"I'm just really interested to see what people's reactions are to this one, which ones connect the most. There's nothing more lovely than having someone who looks like you did at 13 connecting to a song you've written in the same way that I would have connected to a Wolf Alice song or a Nick Cave song”.

I do love this DIY interview. It was published in April. In their interview, “Gretel’s Maddy Haenlein talks self-knowledge, artistic integrity, and the importance of always honouring your inner teenager”. If you have not heard Squish and are unfamiliar with Gretel then do check her out:

“With the lion’s share of material recorded in a five-day stretch at RAK Studios, ‘Squish’ is a thrilling document of its spontaneous gestation. From the grungy guitar textures and vocal acrobatics of ‘Unbloom’, to ‘Laurali’’s swirling shoegaze balladry and ‘Pick Your Heart Up’’s playful mix of swaggering bass and girl gang shouts, there’s an unstudied charm throughout that feels thrillingly genuine. Early reference points - including The Cure and ‘Mellow Gold’-era Beck - were swiftly abandoned, with Maddy committing to pursuing the emotional truth of each individual track instead. The result is a full-band indie-rock record underpinned by a strong singer-songwriter sensibility.

And within this framework, there’s impressive variety. Like a blissed-out hybrid of Florence + The Machine and The Last Dinner Party, ‘Darkness Be My Friend’ serves as a stunning two-hander, its lilting verses giving way to dizzying choruses powered by shimmering guitar arpeggios. The title track pairs punky guitars with soaring vocals, while anthemic single ‘Fire Blooming Trees’ was co-written with Hugo White of The Maccabees, and channels much of that band’s vim for a heart-racing chorus. For Maddy, the album marks a full-circle moment, taking her back to her early days channelling Nirvana and Nick Cave: “It’s funny, I think the stuff that I’m releasing now is actually more similar to what I was doing at the very beginning of my career. Sonically, I’ve come home.”

Squish’’s most powerful moment comes in the shimmering dream-pop of album closer ‘The Perfect Body’. A song as devastating as it is courageous, it draws on Maddy’s experiences of disordered eating; its chorus finds her ruing that “I’ve wrecked my body tryna be happy,” while later, she confesses: “I want a perfect body / And I want a religion / And I want brains / And I want to have children / That is, if I still can.”

As deeply painful as these confessions are, Maddy views the song as a hopeful gesture. “I’m choosing not to let body dysmorphia get the better of me anymore. It’s me saying: ‘I want to be happy and exhilarated, and I want to see myself like you do’. But yeah, I still listen to that song and I weep at the girl who wrote it.”

Ultimately, she believes that embarking on this journey of personal growth has resulted in a record she can truly stand behind. “You can never be happy with a body of work that’s a reflection of yourself, until you’re happy with yourself,” she explains thoughtfully. “It was all about being honest with what I was writing and trying to excite the person I was when I was 13.”

Now it’s complete, we wonder what she thinks 13 year old Maddy would make of ‘Squish’. “Oh god, I really hope that she’d like it,” she replies quickly, a pained look in her eyes. “Sometimes [I think] ‘is it loud enough for her? Is it popping off enough for her?’ Mostly, I just hope that she would listen to it and feel something, because that’s the reason I started writing music in the first place”.

Speaking with Gretel backstage at the Deer Shed Festival, CLASH caught her in thoughtful mode. I do think that Squish is an album that should win awards. It definitely announces her as a very distinct songwriter. I am not sure what other tour dates are coming up, but I would love to see her play if she has some London dates coming up. You check back here when new ones are added:

“The album is impressively wide-ranging, exploring issues including grappling with femininity, people pleasing, the male gaze and finding a place in the world. It is also a strikingly honest record, with few filters put between the artist and listener. Perhaps that’s why chatting with Gretel under a tree in a quiet festival corner feels so right. The songwriter exudes relaxed, unpretentious likeability and even grabs a blanket from her bag to spread for us on the guano-spotted bench. As we speak, it becomes clear than genuine human connections mean the world to Gretel.

“It’s so lovely hearing when people have connected to the work… That’s why it’s so nice to be able to come and play shows and actually reach those new people in real life, in a real way,” she says.

The very idea of success means something different to Gretel now than when she was younger, she explains.

“Now, success to me is making just about enough money from the music to always do it. I believe this album has been successful because it’s taught me so much about what I do and don’t want to feel when creating a body of work.

For Gretel, who was herself “discovered” by the industry before she turned 20, it is the modern idea and image of “the young prodigy” that makes her uncomfortable.

“There’s such an obsession with someone getting it right first time, and knowing who they are when they’re 17… and getting the perfect debut album when they’re 18… This whole idea of momentum and stuff like that,” she says. “Of course that stuff is really impressive, but what’s really lovely is a real human being figuring it out.”

Gretel muses on how artists she knows have reacted to challenges — such as having previous industry supporters suddenly lose faith in them.

“They can either decide they don’t want to do it and sink away and do something else, or they can go ‘Brilliant, we’ve had our shot and tried to do that, now I’m deciding to keep going because I’m always going to make music whether or not commercial success is on the cards for me.’ Again, really liberating!”.

Far Out Magazine provided their verdict on Gretel’s debut album. They say how it balances references and originality. I am interested to see where she heads next. There will be touring demand and international dates. If you have not heard they album yet then do go and listen now:

“The Skinny: In particular, the demand for referencelessness feels like something thrown at women by men. It’s a new tool used in a weird attempt to catch women in rock out, suggesting if they take clear influence from another act or time, they’re clearly a copy-cat, a phony or incapable of their own originality.

On Squish, Gretel wearing her references doesn’t impact her greatness at all. In fact, it makes it all the better. Within seconds of the opening title track alone, Gretel croons “something in the way…” and your mind fills in the blank of George Harrison’s ultimate love song. That’s a tune of grand gestures and devotion, but as Gretel twists it, ending the phrase instead with “you’re holding me now”, she instead launches into a song about modern connection and desperation for affection, even if it’s fleeting. The rest of the song is a battle between two desires; “All I want is to drown in love” she wails while also agreeing to the chaotic confines of modern dating, singing “But call me up / In the dead of night / And I’ll be all over it / No courting, I’ll be all over it.”

Throughout the record, it’s as if Gretel sees the artists that shaped her and pays thrilling homage. There are PJ Harvey tones across the board, from her guitar tones to her turns of phrase and vocal acrobatics on ‘Witch Hunt’. ‘Laurali’ is devastating in the way Stevie Nicks’ saddest songs are, merging mythical images with simple gut punches like “I’ll lick your wounds while you’re sending back the things I bought for you“. Wolf Alice also comes up as a likeness again and again as Gretel undeniably sits in the new cast of women in rock influences, spurred on by the power of Ellie Rowsell’s powerful and characterful voice.

With shades from shoegaze to classic indie to all-out rock rages like the standout track ‘Unbloom’, Gretel is clearly taking sips from all the different pools that first got her drunk on the idea of picking up a guitar and singing into the mic. Yet no amount of that takes away from her clear talent as a composer, but especially as a lyricist.

Squish is a step up in every way from her prior releases, but most notably in her writing. On ‘Maybelline’ alone, Gretel’s contemplation of beauty standards, generational insecurity passed down from age to age while it morphs and disguises, is so nuanced yet so catchy. All the references that colour the record might have pointed her in the right direction, started her off and informed some choices, but only sheer talent picks up a pen and makes something that good.

The Verdict: Building slowly over a scattering EP, Gretel’s debut album launches with a promise fulfilled and potential not only met, but doubled down on. Spanning a broad sonic landscape while her pen keeps her unique and focussed, it’s an album that never dulls but only deepens with each listen and gets more euphoric once you can sing along”.

This is an artist that I have admired for a long time. Her singles and E.P.s have been amazing but, with Squish, I feel she has hit this peak. I do think she will grow stronger and stronger. I feel that this London artist is going to be in the industry for decades more. A phenomenal talent…