No Depression Sessions at Folk Alliance International 2024: Malena Cadiz

Join us for Malena Cadiz’s No Depression Session at Folk Alliance International 2024, in which she shares four songs from her third studio album, Hellbent and Moonbound. The Los Angeles-based songwriter — a second-generation Filipino-American who lived with her mom in Michigan and her dad in Singapore growing up — is accompanied during her ND session by fellow L.A. songwriter Leeann Skoda on background vocals.

Cadiz tells us that the album and the title track are inspired by a phrase from the poem “Drift” by US Poet Laureate Ada Limón. The phrase that sparked Cadiz’s imagination deals with the feeling of striving toward the light and the fierce commitment needed to get there. Closely related to the struggle toward the light, the album references the importance of identifying and ultimately trusting our internal compass to forge our own path.

Cadiz and Skoda’s voices complement each other in a “sum equals more than its parts” sort of way. While I was editing this video I accidentally set the saturation to zero, seeing a few seconds of black-and-white footage. Seconds turned into minutes, then I realized I had spent 20 minutes of my “work” day transfixed by the timewarp effect that the black-and-white created. The whispery quality of Cadiz’s voice would have fit just as well in the 1940s as it does in 2024. To my ear the songwriting doesn’t reference earlier eras, which adds even more interest to the complete artist that is Malena Cadiz.

Setlist:
“Hellbent & Moonbound”
“My Kind of Thief”
“Shatter”
“Whatever You Need”

This No Depression Session at Folk Alliance International 2024 is made possible by AEA Ribbon Mics. Find previous No Depression Sessions at Folk Alliance International 2024 here, and look for more in the coming weeks.