Adelaide Cara

Adelaide Cara is an Ōtepoti based musician whose dream-pop-meets-grunge sound has enchanted many ears since the release of their debut album ‘How Does This Sound?’. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Adelaide over a cheeky mulled wine to discuss their new solo project, their musical journey, influences, mental health, and leading a whimsical life.

What was the process of writing, recording, and promoting like? 

It was pretty weird, because I initially did it for my Honours composition class in 2019. I had to notate my vocals, bass, guitar, drums… everything into a score (sheet music).  Absolutely everything, except special effects, (but I was kind of writing that in my head anyway because that’s what I do!). I came up with the songs, notated them all onto this program called Sibelius which churned them out into midi files which sounded shit (those tracks were so funny to listen to, therefore hard to take seriously). Then I got my friends to listen to those tracks (“how does this sound?”), learn them, play them in the recording studio and then I mixed it roughly to hand in for my Honours paper. Then I came back to the album in 2020 to mix. I mixed it all by myself at home and once we were out of lockdown (2020) I worked on it with Mike Holland, who was my mentor when I was in uni and has since become a friend. We worked on the album for like 9 months. We’d meet every couple of weeks and work on one song. It was a very slow process but he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart, and we both were quite busy, so there were definitely moments where we felt like the album was never going to be finished. But it was worth it because by the end everything sounded really beautiful and expansive. Steven Marr from Roundhead Studios did all the mastering, and then I worked on the promo roll out. So that’s kind of how it went!

And there were other people involved in the album?

Yeah! So with the recording we had Hamish Morgan on drums, Georgi Hampton on piano, Connor Blackie on guitar, Mike played a couple of drum tracks, and Olive Butler on violin. Then for the sake of time (I didn’t have time to record bass for the assessed part of my album), during lockdown (2020) I got my good friend Josh Howley to record bass at home through a DI and send those files to me. It was really nice working with Josh and Hamish who were in Milpool with me. 

Tell me about your release gig. Was the gig important for releasing the album?

Absolutely. I released the album, then twelve days later played the gig. I felt like the gig was what tied it all together and made it feel like I’d really done it. It made it feel real, like it was actually out there in the world; that people were listening to it, this visceral thing.  We had Calla and Laney Blue opening, we had merch, and it was put on tape by Julie Dunn from trace/untrace. It was in a community hall in South Dunedin, an area which I have a lot of fondness for. There was a mirror ball and dart boards and everyone was wearing beautiful outfits. It was the best night of my life! It was so good because it really hit home that the album was done. I was just so tired after 3 years of making the album so I haven’t had the energy to be able to go on a tour or anything yet. I’m not sure when that will happen, I’m sure time will tell. But I just loved it. Being able to play this one beautiful gig that was everything I dreamed it to be and more, was amazing. I am so lucky. Best night.

Was there a reason why you didn’t have it in one of the classic Dunedin venues? Is that where you grew up?

Yeah! My faith community is in South Dunedin, but no, I never grew up there. I’m part of a Presbytarian community called The Seedling. We’re kind of like a church but also just embedded in the community doing projects. It’s very chill. It was really important because I really wanted to uplift that community. South Dunedin is really amazing. It gets a bad rap sometimes, but think South Dunedin is really cool so I wanted to bring more people there! Plus I know so many great people who live there. Also I like destination gigs! 

It probably made it more specific to you as well?

Yeah, it was cool to play somewhere sentimental. 

How did your musical journey start?

My musical journey started when I was about four. I’ve always had a love of music. It was around the ge of four that I begged my parents to have singing lessons. Usually singing teachers won’t take people on till they are five, but they made an exception. I had classical music singing lessons from the age of four till about eighteen. When I finished school I went away to Vienna for a year, did some opera stuff, realised it wasn’t my vibe, then decided to come back to Dunedin. After that I didn’t sing for a while; I just studied music production which I really liked. Towards the end of my degree I was asked to be in Milpool (a Dunedin punk band that is no longer) which was amazing. I knew the scene, and knew lots of people in the scene. I loved watching gigs of course, but there was always that desire to get on stage... I just didn’t know how. Milpool got me there. Once Milpool happened there was Repulsive Woman, Millie Lovelock’s project, which I was a part of, and that ended up giving me the courage to do Adelaide Cara. 

How have these other projects influenced the sound of your solo music?

Milpool and Repulsive Woman definitely added the depth and grittiness to my music. When I was writing songs before, I liked them but there was something missing… In Milpool we would often write something “pretty” and “simple” and then mess with it. Make it weird. Kick it around in the dirt for a while, lift it out, dust it off, and think: “oh yeah that could work.”

What is important to your creative process?

Time. Time is important. I think I work okay under pressure, but my best music comes to me when I least expect it. When I’m just by the piano at home… perhaps I got ready too early so I’ve got 10 minutes to kill before my ride comes to collect me. I sit down at the piano, put my phone recorder on and play. It’s often in those moments where good ideas come to me. What I have learnt over the years, particularly through the composition part of my degree, is how to make use of time creatively. I also think something that contributes to my creative process is just listening to a really wide range of music and getting inspiration from it all. Everything just pulls together from all these different genres into this one amalgamation, which I think is my music.

Are there any themes that you think are important lyrically?

I think mental health is my big one, which you will hear on the album. All my struggles, and challenges, and joys of living, as one has. I have a lot to say and I’ve found myself being a sort of advocate for myself and for others. The message I really want to get across with my themes is that you’re not alone. And if you think you’re the only one that has thought those weird thoughts, chances are I have as well. I think that is why I wrote my lyrics so bluntly, and so much about mental health. If people took away one key message from the album it would be: 

Everything is going to be okay.

What does Dunedin mean to you and how has it impacted your sound and style, if it has at all?

It has hugely; I wrote a song about Dunedin called “Eden”. I think Dunedin means a lot to me because I’ve lived here all my life, bar one year, so I have this weird view of Dunedin where it’s simultaneously this big city and small town. I find that the music scene itself has been a huge influence on my music. Especially all of my friends, hence why the album is called How Does This Sound?. It’s me playing it to my friends and asking them “what do you think of this? How does this sound?” So it’s kind of an ode to them, so to speak. This is my way of giving back after all these years of people saying that I should do something, and now I finally have done it! Also the landscape and how gothic and dark it is. I kinda love leaning into those Dunedin stereotypes -  wearing black and being a little bit... grumpy in winter *laughs* It’s cold down here! I think that plays a lot into my music. What I like about Dunedin as well, is even when the clouds are dark, there’s still brightness. There’s always this weird beautiful light happening around the place, which is just so magical. That’s a huge influence on my music too. 

Where does Adelaide Dunn become Adelaide Cara? And is that intentional?

I started coming up with Adelaide Cara before working at Radio One. I try not to make my job my whole identity but I love it so much, it is part of who I am. However I really wanted to separate the two. I am a music producer, I work in the scene, I contribute to the scene. That’s Adelaide Dunn. Adelaide Dunn is the music producer, so to speak. Adelaide Cara is the musician. Adelaide Cara is like the heightened version of myself - the version of myself that I would have looked back on when I was like fifteen and been like “oh my gosh.” If I met Adelaide Cara when I was fifteen I would have freaked out. I would have been like “they are so cool, I want to be friends with this person.” I think that’s a goal in life everyone should have. Be the person that your twelve to fifteen year old self would be like “you’re cool, im intimidated by you” - in a good way. And not cool cool, you know, more like authentically themselves. 

That’s cool! It must be nice to feel like you have a space and a platform to be that person, even if you might not want to all the time?

Yeah totally. It’s definitely not a mask though. I definitely am very much myself when I’m in the zone. When i’m playing as Adelaide Cara, it’s the most myself I ever am. Adelaide Cara is like that very dramatic, glittery part of me, just my heightened, true, glimmering self.

What were your key inspirations for this album?

Kate Bush. Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, Aldous Harding. Then certain songs were inspired by certain musicians. For example, Paranoia was very inspired by The Beatles. And then Eden was inspired by the Cocteau Twins, that very ethereal sound. Radiant was inspired by Milpool. So each song itself has little inspirations, but overall that very ethereal, Kate Bush vibe is the big one. 

In regards to non-musical inspirations, as I’ve said mental health is a big one. Aside from that though, I think my biggest inspiration for the album was this concept of late adolescence. So often in movies and media, it’s about high school and teenagehood. But that late adolescence, when you’re out of high school, early 20s, is so life changing. You change so much as a person between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five and i dont think it’s talked about enough. An album that inspired me of that era was Lorde’s Melodrama. It’s a musical influence, yeah, but it was more the concept itself of late adolescence. The struggles and the excitement of falling in love, having heartbreak, mental health stuff, being scared about the future, and identity crises from like “What outfit do I wear today” to “Who am I?” “What job am I going to get?” and “How should I portray myself?” I think that’s huge. Any form of education you get post high school or going straight into a job is really intense. 

Do you feel you learnt anything about yourself during the process of this album?

I learnt a lot of skills, but something I learnt was to be more myself. I probably became way more authentic. I don’t know if that was with time and getting older - not that i’m that old - or the process of the album. I think I learned to just really be myself and not follow trends musically or personality-wise, which helped me become more comfortable with who I am. And a shit ton of skills, so many skills! 

Oh yeah! What aspects of the album were you involved in creating?

Absolutely everything except the mastering. I did the written and rough recording component of that album for my honours composition class. So I genuinely learnt a lot through that time. That was how I was able to record at Albany Street and be the last album recorded at Albany street before they knocked it down due to asbestos. It was very special. 

How has working on other projects like Alpha Delta been for your creative process?

I love Alpha Delta because I feel like with Adelaide Cara there were moments, because it was so intense and I loved it so much, it felt like life or death. I was just putting so much into it. And for a long time there were moments when I was working on Adelaide Cara where I felt like “I want to follow this path and become really successful from this.” I’ve since learnt that this feeling is really unhealthy for me and I needed to pull back and just make an album, and enjoy it. Now I’m in a really good space where I don’t have this weird pressure on myself to be this “successful” musician and to just enjoy it. What I love about Alpha Delta is that it’s just fun. It’s hanging out with a bunch of people who make music on the side because of their busy lives and so there’s no pressure and I really really love that. It’s been awesome. 

Do you think that helped you come back into that zone with Adelaide Cara?

Absolutely. I totally came back into the zone with Adelaide Cara. I had to remind myself that I’m doing this for love, not this weird pipe dream. It’s interesting though, I don’t think we talk about that enough in New Zealand because we feel like we have to be humble all the time, when in reality a lot of us really really want it. We really want success. We want to be like Unknown Mortal Orchestra, or Lorde even. Don’t get me started on that feeling of being a young person, particularly that’s not a man, and having the influence of Lorde and Benee and thinking “I could be like that”. But I’ve realised I don’t have to pressure myself to be like that just because they’re doing that. It’s a really hard balance. But I feel like now the album is released, it’s amazing that the timing has worked out that I don’t feel that pressure any more, from myself or (perceived) from others. 

That’s really interesting. I do feel like New Zealanders have a weird relationship with this. That engrained tall poppy syndrome, but also because it’s a small country, that big success isn’t necessarily that far away either.

Totally! There’s this dissonance. This is actually what Radiant is about; that feeling of tall poppy syndrome and desire - “I want to be humble yet radiant”. It is so hard, that push and pull. 


I love Radiant, I reckon it’s my favourite song on the album.

Oh cool! I love knowing what people’s favourite songs are on the album, because everyone seems to have a different favourite song and it’s such an insight into who they are. Plus it’s pretty cool to know that people have sat back and spent time listening to my music, it’s really buzzy.

Do you have a favourite song? If so, why?

I try not to play favourites, but in recent times I think my favourite song on the album has been Golden Age. It’s really different from the others and I put it at the end of the album as a turning point for whatever comes next. It’s like, I’ve released this thing into the world, “No clue where I’m going / All I know is that it’s golden” and I think that’s really reassuring, for those listening as well as myself. 

Away from music how do you like to spend your time?

Well I have my faith community in South Dunedin, The Seedling, so I’m very involved with that. My spiritual faith is very important to me. I like to think I lead a quiet spiritual life. I really love my faith and how it has shaped me and given me so much strength. That is one of the big things I do outside of music. I also do a lot of hanging out with friends and whanau. I think that is really important, and just having a chance to relax. I watch lot of Netflix *laughs* and I like to read. I love the fantasy genre so I’ve always been a huge Narnia and Lord of the Rings fan. I’m really passionate about fashion and architecture, and leading a very whimsical life. Oh, I also love creative writing and academic research. They make me happy as well. 

Any dreams / goals music-wise?

I did. But now my dream and goal is just to be as authentic to myself as possible. Go with my gut. Even if it means saying no to things. Like more than yes, which breaks my heart, but I just got to go with my gut and do what’s best for myself. And what’s best for those around me. So I think my goal is to just live a really good musical career that’s comfy and authentic.

To find more of Adelaide go to:

Instagram: @_adelaidecara

Spotify: Adelaide Cara