Revisiting NewDad’s debut album ‘Madra’ two years after its release
Ahead of the release of their second album, Altar, I spoke with NewDad lead singer Julie Dawson. It was a nice chat all around, but one moment which stood out in particular was Dawson’s disdain towards selfishness within creativity.
“There’s no place for ego when you’re creating music,” she said. “You can’t have something in there because you want to be the one playing it, it’s not about that. It’s about what makes the song the best possible version of the song, so there’s definitely no room for ego when it comes to creating music.”
The album ranked at number 47 on Far Out’s best albums of 2025, which is fine; there are a lot of us writers putting strong opinions forward, and we’re a pretty mixed bunch, but in this humble critic’s mind, it should have been a lot higher. I had it at number four on my personal list, as it’s pretty perfect from start to finish. The whole thing is layered, with a sound so thick you could tie it in knots, but it doesn’t lose sight of melody within that atmosphere, which is a very hard balance to strike.
Of course, the band didn’t pluck this sound out of thin air, as two years ago to the day, they released their debut album Madra. January 26th saw a small band with a lot of hype show those who were bigging them up, their faith was well placed. This was a solid debut, and the perfect album to introduce the world to NewDad, as it was distortion-laden, effect-heavy, layered, exciting and packed to the brim with exemplary musicianship.
All of these qualities are similar to those you hear on Altar, but it’s clear the band are still working them out. You have to dig a little deeper to drag out the melody the group were so clearly capable of, as their sound is shoegaze adjacent with how much it relies on atmosphere to build up a track. Additionally, the interesting time signatures and musical patterns you hear on the debut are presented as vocal lines rather than guitar riffs and licks.
This differentiation is likely the result of the band growing closer together in the year following their debut and also teaming up with producer Sam Breathwick. The two were able to form a creative partnership which allowed them to construct huge walls of sound throughout their music but also ensured they chip away enough so that fans could see over the other side.
“Our producer Sam [Breathwick], he’s brilliant at that,” said Dawson. “Sometimes we’d have this big wall of sound, we’d have all these tracks in the project, and then we’d start going ‘Okay, mute everything’, and then ‘Put that back in, put that back in’. That’s a really helpful part of the process that I think is really necessary for us […] I just loved the production so much. We knew that Sam was a brilliant producer, so it just felt really natural to then go in and finish these songs with him.”
I should state that this isn’t a slight on that debut album, it’s still a great piece of music with amazing songs that I still listen to frequently. However, with two years in the rear view mirror and another album out, it’s clear that what you hear on that debut is NewDad establishing a solid foundation upon which they can build their band, and while it’s packed with grit and feels a bit rough around their edges, that just adds to its charm.
Upon revisiting the band’s debut album, the progress they have made in two years is tangible, making it intriguing to listen to and making an avid fan like me excited for the future, because they’re a group with progress at their centre, so who knows where they might end up.
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