Track By Track: Celeste Madden – Is It Really Goodnight?

Over its six songs, Is It Really Goodnight? – the new EP from London-based singer-songwriter Celeste Madden – acts as a partial chronicle of the last five years of her life.

The EP is a series of snapshots; some seemingly mundane at first, and some pivotal in her life. Recounting moments from before lockdown to the present day, told in a confessional style over intimate arrangements that bring out the Laurel Canyon ancestry of dream pop and modern indie music. Sometimes, there’s real beauty in sadness.

Big thank you to Celeste for taking part in our Track By Track feature. If you like Beach House and Judee Sill, you’ll love the EP. Oh, and be sure to watch the video for Lapdog!

Nightly Routine

Nightly Routine is about trying to find patterns in lockdown that wouldn’t make me sink further into depression, but rather keep me afloat. It proved pretty difficult, because all the days tended to blend into one.

I ended up focusing on really mundane tasks, like brushing my teeth really well, but wondering if I would be able to hang on to do it the next day, and the next. I think the significance of it being a nightly routine is that I just wanted to make it to the next morning. It’s a simple song, but the darkest on the EP.

Lapdog

There were a group of people I had been friends with, and had started actively shunning me and encouraging other friends to do the same. I didn’t know why at the time – turns out there was a rumour that no one had bothered to ask me about, which is how these things usually go.

That level of rejection hugely threw me for a loop and I found myself wondering what was wrong with me, then feeling vengeful. The country twinge is quite peaceful compared to how spiteful the lyrics are, I think that two-sidedness reflected the situation quite well.

Millennium

This is unabashedly a love song, which I find difficult to write sometimes just because I feel so strongly that I can’t translate it for myself. We had already broken up by that point, but I was desperate to remain a part of their life or to reignite a spark.

It didn’t work, sadly, but I think it’s a really good testament to loving unconditionally, regardless of whether you’re still with someone. I felt the most comfortable being able to make a dramatic statement about my love for them transcending our respective problems. It’s my favourite off the EP.

That’s My Boy

If Millennium is hopeful, this one is hopeless. It’s the most literal song from the EP, a blow-by-blow account of the day of a breakup, which proved to be pretty cathartic. This one was the last to be written, and I’d just reached the tail end of processing the end of the relationship.

Fever Dream

It’s set at a terrible party I went to in early 2020, where I ended up picking glass out of someone’s white carpet because somebody sat on a table.

I spent the whole time wishing I could just leave with someone I had feelings for, so this song is me imagining the better ending to that night, but also trying to weigh up the consequences of getting what I want.

Joan of Arc

This began life as an acoustic demo track, but it became more meaningful to me over time. My grandma would give me medals with St Anthony and St Christopher on them to watch over me as a child, and even though I’m an atheist, I’ve always loved the idea of choosing a specific saint to guide you.

Being in love felt a bit like that, putting all my faith in one person in almost an act of worship – love becomes your religion, especially during a dark time.

Is It Really Goodnight? is out now via Sad Club Records, one of the best indie labels in the UK right now, with and amazing roster.

The EP can be downloaded on Bandcamp and streamed on Spotify and YouTube Music. Follow Celeste Madden on Instagram to learn more about the artist and upcoming releases.