Mother Nature

Angie McMahon

A rallying cry to change our climate approach, to listen to the pain of Mother Nature and the voices of those trying to protect her.

Why I wrote this song

“One day when I was really unwell, I lay in my front yard and stared for a long time at a murmuration of birds in the sky. Something about the shapes they were making together woke me up to how amazing birds are, and I felt reborn witnessing their flow. I wrote a poem about it, which became the chorus of this song.

Later I felt shame and grief at how little time and energy I give to the wellbeing of the natural world. I pictured climate activists gathering in crowds the same way this group of birds was moving, so the song was born as a kind of protest chant. I tried to capture the raw power that I imagine burning and rumbling in the planet’s core while we ignore her. I wanted to make a wall of sound, something that can’t be ignored anymore.”

About me as an artist

To make her new album, Light, Dark, Light Again, Angie McMahon had to walk through the fire. The Melbourne singer-songwriter’s second LP was written from the ashes of a tough but transformative few years of relationship changes, private breakdowns and core-shaking revelations about self. At times, McMahon felt like falling apart. But instead, she pushed through and found that hope, joy and relief lies on the other side of pain.

The inevitability of change, the push and pull and between light and dark, and the natural cycles of the world are all over Light, Dark, Light Again, which marks McMahon’s step into a bolder, bigger, brighter expanse of sound than she has utilised before. Whether she is documenting her own metamorphosis on Saturn Returning, rumbling with rage, power and reverence for the earth on Mother Nature, celebrating release on Letting Go or pledging to step into the bravest version of herself on Exploding, McMahon’s songs feel like a triumph; music that buoys and cradles you.

About the music video

The visual accompaniment to this song is a selection of vignettes that capture the quality of Angie’s message and intention, and the beauty of the natural world. The open-mouthed scream appears alongside lively flames and a a photosynthesis timelapse, as well as the “flocks of birds” mentioned in the song, moving through the sky with power and purpose. Angie’s visual selections are simple and effective, and were chosen to directly highlight the energy captured in the song.

Without a budget to produce an entire film for the song, Angie collected footage captured mostly locally on Wurundjeri and Wadawarrung land by herself and collaborator Bridgette Winten, which was edited together by Austin Gomez.