Mac Ayres Talks The Heartfelt Journey Behind His 'Cloudy' Compilation Album
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
Mac Ayres, an artist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/producer, has a classic soul. Ever since emerging in 2017 with his debut EP Drive Slow, he's been satiating fans with a timeless mix of R&B, soul, jazz and folk, creating a fusion that's all his own. But before releasing Drive Slow, Ayres was figuring out his own music story. Now with many EPs and albums under his belt (the latest being 2023's Comfortable Enough album), the artist is going back to his roots with Cloudy (released Nov. 8).
The 15-track project is more of a coming-of-age narrative, taking listeners through his journey of living in his hometown of Sea Cliff, Long Island and his time spent in Boston. It features fan favorites like "Alone With You" and "She Won't Stay Long", all of which were previously solely found on SoundCloud.
"This project is an homage to my foundation as a musician. These are some of the first songs I have ever written or produced. I was learning a lot about not only my craft, but also myself as a person. At the time I wrote these songs, I had a lot of uncertainty in my life," Ayres previously shared about Cloudy's release. "I dropped out of school, I fell in love, I had some of my highest highs and some of my lowest lows. I just hope you can hear the innocence, the naivety, and the pure love that I have for music in this project."
Below, from his Long Island studio before he joins Keshi on tour next month, Mac Ayres dives into the journey behind Cloudy with EDITION.
Why did you feel that now was the right moment to bring all these older songs to the forefront?
In the past year or so, I've really felt like I've changed a lot as a person and as a musician. I think I've been taking a little more time to think about where I've been. I think that sometimes we focus a lot on just what's ahead on the journey. But there’s a lot of people that listen to my music that don't know these songs, and I think that it's an important part of my foundation as an artist. I'd say that was a contributing factor. Also, my fans who do know those songs have been asking me for a long time for them to be on streaming platforms. So they're out of SoundCloud jail now, as the people are saying, but it's just been a really nice full-circle moment just listening to all these songs again.
How did you figure out what songs you wanted to add to this project?
It was not too much deliberation. I just wanted to highlight what my favorite songs on [Soundcloud] were that weren't already on an album. I had a couple that had eventually made Drive Slow [album]. But I had no real concept or theme in mind. I just wanted my favorites to be on it.
The title is Cloudy. I know in the beginning phases of your career, you felt like you didn't really know what direction to go in terms of music. Would you say that word encapsulates how you felt back then?
I mean, obviously there is the play on the whole SoundCloud thing, but I would say there's also definitely some metaphor at play. I feel like a lot of these songs have sky or cloud references. We have songs like “Blue Skies”. So I'd say that's a very fitting way to put it. It was just an unclear time of my life. You could say I was cloudy in direction and wherever I was headed next. So, there’s many, many layers to the cloudy theme.
You mentioned earlier that this project is the foundation of your art, and I want to dive into that more. What do you think your foundation is?
A good question. When I think about this project and making these songs, it's some of the first songs I ever wrote. Songwriting did not really come into my life until I was maybe 17 or 18, and I was simultaneously learning how to produce for myself. I was starting out in Logic, and I say that’s my foundation, because it feels like the most pure example I have of my art. When I made these songs, I didn't think anybody would ever hear them. I was just having fun. I'd freshly stopped going to school. I always say that I mostly was posting these just to prove to my mom and my grammy that I was not just rotting away in my apartment. I was really working on my craft and trying to get better. I would just say that in a lot of respects, I don't know if I'll ever get back to a mentality where I was at at the time of writing these
That's fair. Were there any songs that maybe hit differently emotionally after you revisited them? As they're very pure and honest songs.
Thank you. I mean, when I think about songs like “Alone With You” and “Love Somebody” and “She Won't Stay Long”, I had written them all about a new relationship that I was in at the time. Now in 2024, listening back, me and that girl that all the songs are about are celebrating our eighth anniversary in March. So that's been great. She's happy the songs are out too. But just thinking about where I was at then, versus looking back now, it's just been funny to see all my art in hindsight. Because it just puts you back in that mentality that you were in.
I mean, isn't that the beauty of music, though? Looking back and seeing how your music really reflects your life. It's playing out your own biography in a way.
It really is. All of my albums feel like timestamps in my life, and I think are a good reflection of where I was at mentally at that point. And this one is no different. It's just a fuzzy little walk down memory lane, for sure.
How do you think you've grown artistically? I think you've become an even better songwriter since then. But how do you think you've elevated?
I would say that I'm just further along in my journey. I guess I have more hours of practice under my belt than I did back then. I have more life experience than I did back then. I guess a part of me hears some of these recordings, and it's like, I totally could have got a better vocal take, or I could have played this guitar part better, this keys part better. But it was important for me to keep these songs as they always were. I didn't want to just regurgitate the idea that I had at that time. I wanted to really make sure that the magic of the moment was captured. So as much further along as I feel, it was important to just get that moment in time captured.
Nice. So all the songs on the record, they're not remastered or anything like that.
All of them are exactly as they were on SoundCloud. Well a friend of mine, Sam Brawner, made my mixes sound a little bit better than 20-year-old Mac in my apartment bedroom could do. But the one exception is “Love Somebody”. I re-recorded the instruments on that, but it's the original vocal take and the original drums. That's the only sort of tinkering I did.
I like that just because it still holds up that innocence and greenness that you had when you were younger. It's a nice time capsule in that way. What I appreciate the most about your artistry is that you still preserve this intimacy, both with your lyrics and your sound, which is intimate and comforting. Going back to the 20-year-old Mac, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you would want to tell him?
So much. As much as I would like to say, “be smarter about the industry, protect your peace”, and stuff like that. Through the good and the bad, I truly feel like I'm right where I am supposed to be. So I would just tell him to keep going and try your best to not waver in your belief in yourself. Because I think as human beings, there's better days than others as far as the way that you speak to yourself. I spent a long time not speaking to myself the way that I would want to be spoken to by other people. All things considered, I would just tell him, “You're doing good kid”.
I agree with that. Your Comfortable Enough album came out just a year ago, but is there anything else that you may be working on? Or are you playing around in the studio with any new ideas?
Yeah, I'm in the studio right now. It's at my house, so I'm in here every day, basically. I always get a couple of ideas, but there's always more music to be made. So you'll be hearing from me when it's ready.
Are there any ways that you would want to maybe challenge yourself musically?
Definitely. I always want to challenge myself. That's an important part of my artistry. How does that necessarily present itself? I guess we'll see. Because some days I wake up and I think, “It'd be fun to do some Sinatra, Big Band feeling stuff”. And sometimes I wake up and I think, “Maybe I'll make a Neil Young folky guitar album”. Sometimes my interests come and go with the wind. But ideally, yes, I would like to just keep progressing as an artist, keep trying out new stuff, and see what other music there is for me.
