By: Elizabeth Lintonen

Madeline Stadel, dressed in a long, flowing skirt, intentionally accessorized with a pair of dazzling gold and purple moon-shaped earrings, makes her way through her Riverwest apartment’s living room. In the sage smelling space, we are introduced to two very key components of her environment. The first, a black cat named Luna. The second, her keyboard, a wicker seat with a pink crocheted seat cover that overlooks Humboldt Ave. On this keyboard, she explains, is where she writes much of her music. She suggests this is where we do the interview, and I wholeheartedly agree.

While we set up, Stadel plays us one single, then another. We finish getting ready before the second song is finished, but continue listening, because in Stadel’s words “There’s an amazing synth solo coming up.” (She’s right, it is very good.) 

This is Madeline Stadel. She is self-assured and calm with an ethereal vibe to her presence. She is a passionate musician and a frighteningly talented lyricist. She has spent years working to understand her place in the world, and she understands exactly what the space she takes up in the music scene looks like to her. When she says “this is good,” a life filled with 20 years of songwriting and a gritty realness that only comes from life experience rush to back her up. She is unwavering, unafraid, and unapologetic. 

EL: Tell me a little bit about how you got started and why.

MS: I went to music school and got my degree in performance. When the COVID pandemic hit, everything shut down, and I had this very strong sense of urgency, of ‘if not now, when?’ When am I going to start putting my music out and start taking this seriously? That was very heavy on my mind. And then one morning, I woke up, and it was a very dark morning. I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. I had a dream where I saw the name ‘Adorner.’ It was surrounded by bouquets of dried flowers and it felt like I was hearing my name, but I had never heard it before. I just knew it was me. 

I was working with my original bandmates at the time. I said “I know what the name has to be, I had a dream about it.” I am the personification of adornment. I am one who adorns, I am one who creates beauty, I am one who takes darkness and turns it into light. 

EL: Where do you draw your inspiration from, either in terms of other artists or external influences?

MS: I grew up listening to a lot of progressive rock. I would say you can definitely hear the influence from ‘Rush’ in my music. Also, I’ve been a ‘Radiohead’ fan for most of my life. I heard a lot of classical music growing up, so you can hear ‘Brahms’ in my writing. Later in my life, although I’m still young, I’ve been a big ‘Tame Impala’ fan. One of my biggest influences for as long as I can remember is ‘Paramore.’ 

EL: It’s cool to meet someone with such a clear handle on where they’re going and what they want the sound to be.

MS: I hear it before it comes out. I know exactly how it should sound when the idea is formed. 

EL: How do you create? What is your creative process, and what are things that help you create?

MS: The creative process molds and changes as you do. It grows with you. As I’ve gotten older, it [songwriting] has turned into a way to cope. Like a lot of songwriters, I’ve had a dramatic life. I needed somewhere to channel all of that, to take that darkness and make it light. Suffering is inevitable, and bad things are going to happen, but I refuse to take those things lying down. I will take it, and I will make it good. I will not suffer for nothing. I reclaim my situations and my process and my life through my music. 

I’m at a point now where I sit down and I press record and I let whatever music wants to come out of my fingers. The last few times it’s been one take. It’s been perfect the way it is, and I have to go back later and transcribe it. That’s only after 20 years of writing. It’s spiritual, but it’s also technical. It’s intentional, but it’s also free in the moment. 

EL: Talk to me about the song that just came out. What’s it called, and what’s the story behind it?

MS: The song that just came out is called ‘Nimwe.’ She’s a character from Arhurian lore. Basically, she gets screwed over by everybody. She’s the goddess of ancient magic, or the lady of the lake, and her role in the story is that she fades out. The leaving of ancient magic. I related to her because I was going through an extremely transitional time in my life. The ground below me was slipping. 

The piano part sounds like a wave washing over you, starting at the top of the keyboard and working its way down. It’s about the growing pains that come with changing and the waves of emotion that wash over you. ‘Nimwe’ was a place for me to process my grief with change so I could make way for new things to come to fill that space. I wanted it to feel genuine, because I wanted to take my listeners on a journey. ‘Nimwe’ needed to come first, it needed to set the tone of the new wave of Adorner discography. It needed to be genuine and tell the whole story. 

I grew up in the woods where the ‘Nimwe’ video was shot. I needed to do it in my purest form. I needed to do it where I felt the closest to my higher self. 

EL: What do you love about live performance? I’ve seen a lot of gigs from you recently, what makes you happy as a performer?

MS: I love this question! You never know as a performer who in the room needs to receive what you’re giving them. When you go on stage, you have to accept that that is a sacred role. You have a responsibility to be genuine, to do good, to shed light, to shed truth. For example, we just had our Nimwe single release show. The stage was decorated, we’re doing the sound effects, the whole experience is there. The performance is for you. I’m thinking about my listeners when I’m writing because I don’t want to just contribute to the noise. Music is one of those last few things that connects us as people, it connects our spirits. What I love about live music is being the physical embodiment of that connection. When I’m up there, I’m laying every molecule of my being down.

It has to come from a place of being genuine. A true artist is there to be a vessel for humanity. 

Adorner is one who adorns. If you don’t know your brand, why should anyone listen? To know that is to embody it. Day in and day out. This is the only beginning of a new wave of Adorner. This is who I am, this is how I know to exist in the world. There’s so much more to come. 

Adorner is releasing more music in the near future. To stay tuned, visit https://adornerband.com/, https://adorner.bandcamp.com/, or @adornerofficial on Instagram. 

To watch Adorner’s latest music video for the single ‘Nimwe,’ visit ADORNER – Nimwe