The EP concludes with the titular track, “Afterthought.” The song leaves the listener with a sense of closure, especially when juxtaposed with the opener’s ambiguity. “One of the struggles I had was writing and being genuine about the feelings and the situation without completely dragging the person into the music.” “Something interesting for me when it came to the music is, obviously it’s about people in my life or a situation,” Mackenzie said. She explained the difficulty she sometimes found finding a balance of truth when writing songs based on her own life. Its sound is more upbeat when compared to her other songs, but also, according to Mackenzie, more fictitious. The lyrics tell a story of the artist’s heartbreak, and the production is dynamic. “Steps of Her Brownstone” is by far the standout track from Mackenzie’s EP.

It just seems like it’s this void that can carry your emotions somewhere else.” Sometimes I feel like I just want to talk to the ocean. I was actually going through like a rut during Christmas, so that’s when I wrote ‘Edge of Blue,’ and I just started thinking about the ocean. “I was also just dealing with heartbreak a little bit. “There’s this place called the La Jolla Tide Pools in La Jolla and I had gone there,” Mackenzie said. In that vein, “Edge of the Blue” uses beach-related imagery to explain love and relationships, with lyrics like “A sandcastle pretty to look at / But not meant to last.” I literally just sat on GarageBand and threw clips together.”Īs a San Diego native, Mackenzie views the ocean as a reminder of home. “They’re mostly all my friends and moments throughout the two semesters that are somehow involved with the EP, whether it was friends who I would share songs with or I’ve talked about the situation with or the person from the situation. “Over this past year, I took a lot of videos and photos, just on my phone,” Mackenzie said. Mackenzie used sound bites from her first year at NYU to incorporate snippets of music, conversations and city noise into the song, all the while allowing her strong lyricism to shine through. “Afterthought” opens with the song “Forethought,” which is reminiscent of what you might hear walking through the streets of New York City.

“He will usually just track the instruments because he can get it done in fewer takes, but for some new music that’s going to be coming out, I’m more involved with the playing process.” “I come in and I play everything, but a lot of times Luke is definitely a much better musician, especially recording-wise,” Mackenzie said. Bonenfant worked on the production side, but also contributed his own musical talents, according to Mackenzie. So we were like, ‘OK, I think we can make a good team.’”Īfter recording demos of five of Mackenzie’s songs, the team saw potential for an EP. was pretty full, and final vocals were even on it. “We were just like, ‘do we vibe musically?’ and the demo we made - pretty much except for the drums - sounds very similar. “We made a demo of ‘Do Your Worst,’ and it was truly just like a test run,” Mackenzie said. If you’ve exhausted the tracks on Spotify’s suggested playlists like “Chill Vibes” and “Lorem,” and still want more, look no further than Andie Mackenzie’s newly released debut EP “Afterthought.” A sophomore studying music business at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Mackenzie employed her knowledge of the industry to release her five-track EP.ĭuring her first year, Mackenzie met fellow music business major Luke Bonenfant, who helped her produce “Afterthought” in his New Jersey studio.

Chill vibe songs