Absentee by Nicola Madill

An arresting blend of folk rock with haunting melodies and dark undertones, Absentee marks a bold evolution in Madill’s sound, drawing from her gothic folk roots while embracing expansive, cinematic textures.

“Nicola Madill has created an ambitious and original folk-rock album that is full of dark mysteries, and both seductive and unsettling.” Richard Bull, BBC Radio Scotland

Rooted in literature as much as in music, Absentee is heavily influenced by the dissertation Madill completed for her MLitt in Creative Writing. The album’s lyrical content is richly poetic—woven with metaphor, vivid imagery, and a deep sense of narrative. Her distinctive songwriting invites listeners into an emotionally charged landscape where language and sound work in tandem to evoke memory, absence, and transformation.

Absentee is also the result of an evolving creative partnership between Madill and Scottish producer John Curran, with whom she has worked for over a decade. Together, they have shaped the album’s expansive sonic palette—building from intimate, folk-rooted beginnings into a dynamic full-band sound steeped in atmosphere and tension. Curran’s intuitive production style amplifies Madill’s lyrical intensity, crafting arrangements that are at once raw, cinematic, and hauntingly immersive.

"Nicola Madill stitched shadows into acoustic flesh with gothic folk reverie in Absentee.”
– A&R Factory

"Spellbinding stuff if you surrender yourself to it." Roddy Hart, BBC Radio Scotland

“Nicola Madill has created an ambitious and original folk-rock album that is full of dark mysteries, and both seductive and unsettling.” Richard Bull, BBC Radio Scotland

nicolamadill.com