Madeline Kenney: 'Scoop'

The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.

Madeline Kenney had a distinct image in mind when creating her fifth record, Kiss From the Balcony.

“I had a vision when I was putting this album together,” the Oakland-based artist said. “This Joan of Arc archetype of a valiant female soldier, but in combination with roller skating and being fun and ditzy.”

Sonically as well, Kenney is drawn to exploring these kinds of thoughtful, playful contrasts. Kenney, who cites Arthur Russell and Jenny Hval as inspirations, stretches a pop music sensibility into the avant-garde and art rock realms.

And on Kiss From the Balcony, she decided to try out something extra new. Enlisting the help of long-distance friends Stephen Patota and Ben Sloan, the album is Kenney’s most collaborative project thus far.

On dancy album opener “Scoop,” the trio’s musical rapport especially shines through as they tackled a “peculiar” songwriting problem together.

“[Scoop] was really fun because I had come up with a structure and a lot of lyrics, but it was lacking, well, what we would call a ‘butt,’” laughed Kenney.

The cocktail for giving “Scoop” the lift it needed? Sloan’s playful drumming and Patota’s bouncy, layered guitar parts.

“It was really fun to see how [the song] transformed,” Kenney said. “I liked it the way it was. And then when it came back to me, I liked it 100 times more.”

Madeline Kenney’s album Kiss From the Balcony is out now via Carpark Records.