By Alexandra Pullen
Photo Credit: Atlantic Records
On the day Nell Mescal announced her second EP, The Closest We’ll Get, I had the pleasure of watching her performance live in the Festival Republic tent at Leeds Festival. Of course I had been aware of Mescal before then, mainly through her 2023 single In My Head, which appeared in Netflix’s Heartstopper, but I hadn’t properly indulged in her music until that very performance.
I walked away from the tent after her set, simply in awe of Mescal’s vocals and the powerful vulnerability behind her lyricism. She addressed the crowd, despite some nerves, as if speaking to old friends, and from then on it was clear to me that I must listen to more of her music! I simply couldn’t get her melodies out of my head, and later that day I had the opportunity of interviewing Mescal. Just like on stage, her radiant smile and calming energy made it feel as though I was catching up with someone I’d known for a while. The thing that struck me most about her music was its honesty, so upon asking her about this, she shared that: “I think a lot of it comes from just sitting in my room at like two in the morning, and being like ‘oh my god, I need to say something’, and then I think that just calls for being quite vulnerable because it’s just you.” It’s a feeling many in their early twenties can resonate with, and that is why Mescal’s fanbase appears to be growing day by day.
Fast forward two months to today, and the 22-year-old Irish singer-songwriter has released her six-track EP, The Closest We’ll Get, after a summer filled with excitement building up to this very moment. For this project, Mescal worked alongside producer Philip Weinrobe, who has previously worked with some of her biggest influences, including Adrianne Lenker, Billie Marten and Alanis Morissette. Within just six songs it feels as though we travel through an entire life cycle, with the collection of tracks exploring “a story about two people and how their relationship is in the grey area of friends and lovers”.
There’s no easing into this EP, with opening track Middle Man packing an immediate emotional punch. Mescal’s angelic vocals sound as if they could cut right through your heart. Paired purely with a piano for much of the song – apart from the harrowing guitar which joins for the chorus – this opener sounds devastatingly cinematic. There is a conflicting feeling in this song, of reflecting upon a not-so-positive relationship, and how time makes you realise what could have been done differently: “I can’t be your mother/I can’t hold you through it/You make me feel guilty/You make me feel good/I don’t really like you/I know that I don’t/I wanna be liked/But I don’t wanna be loved”.
Following on from this is the title track, which was released as the EP’s second single on the day of its announcement. Here, Mescal explores the importance of meaning something, or anything, to a person who means so much to you. It flips between being a “full-time” presence in a person’s life to a “half-drunk, sometime lover”. The angelic production heightens the impact of Mescal’s beautiful voice, as well as pairing perfectly with the harmonies of the backing vocals.
Carried Away and See You Again are where the more prominent folk influences on this EP seep through, sprinkled with an ounce of country flair – which makes sense given the songs were released shortly after her visit to Nashville during Thanksgiving in 2024. However, while the former’s long and rambling bridge is filled with desperation for reassurance from a loved one, the latter feels more upbeat and playful, reminiscent of songs by Kasey Musgraves and Maisie Peters.
The penultimate song Lose You Altogether is a standout for me, where Mescal is at her most open and vulnerable:
“Do you see me when you picture their mother?” … “I love you in a big way/Like picking out schools and circling baby names/And I love you in a small way/Maybe that’s all we’ll be to each other”
On this track, we hear of an imagined life with a past love. Within the anxiety-laced confusion of this though, it seems as though clarity was near. I first listened to this song while walking on a crisp autumnal day, and strangely it gave me a sense of hyperawareness where everything felt brighter, despite the topic being quite heartbreaking. Mescal shared that she cried during the session recording this track, and upon listening, it’s clear why: “I was like ‘You’ve said it, and now it’s captured in song.’” Almost as if being caught out by your own thoughts, by thinking of what could have been, Lose You Altogether makes reality all the more vivid.
The closing track signals the arrival of true clarity. In Sweet Relief, Mescal looks back on the relationship she discusses throughout, and concludes that perhaps it was a relief that it ended. Reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s Clean, or even That’s So True by Gracie Abrams, the song’s angered bridge is levelled out by a feeling of catharsis by the end.
Overall, The Closest We’ll Get is a beautifully poignant second EP from one of Ireland’s most talented and promising upcoming artists. Since childhood, Mescal has turned to songwriting as a form of expression and escapism, and even recalls writing her first song at age ten, after a classmate was mean to her. Ten-year-old Mescal turned to her pink and purple notebook to write a song about gazing into a broken mirror. Twelve years on, Nell Mescal continues to fully let her guard down in her lyrics. This EP displays her ability to balance looking back on the past and finding herself in the present.
Nell Mescal will embark on her UK and Ireland tour for The Closest We’ll Get this November and December, after supporting HAIM on their UK leg of the I Quit tour. Mescal is an artist whose vocal talent and appreciation of her fans makes her one not to miss, so I would highly recommend seeing her live. Tickets available here.
Unless otherwise stated, Photography & Text Copyright 2025 © Alexandra Pullen/ADRENALINE Magazine.
Esme Campbell