Mackenzie Scott

Mackenzie Scott performs as Torres. Her second album, Sprinter, came out on Partisan Records in 2015. You can follow her on Twitter here.

 

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Bio

Torres is the stage name of Mackenzie Scott (born January 23, 1991), an independent American singer, songwriter, musician and artist. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter waits until anything—an idea, an emotion, a memory—gnaws at her, tearing at her fingers and throat until she releases it in song. Scott escaped the confines of her churning mind in order to find herself by recording Sprinter in the market town of Bridport in Dorset, England; and then at the Bristol studio of Portishead's Adrian Utley. With his guitar riffs and synthesizers lingering in the background like a lowland mist and PJ Harvey's Robert Ellis and Ian Olliver on rhythm—the two fortuitously reuniting 23 years after the release of Dry, and in Scott's 23rd year of living—she crafted a "space cowboy" record. "That's as simply as I can say it," says Scott, who cites inspirations as diverse as Funkadelic and Nirvana, Ray Bradbury and Joan Didion. "I wanted something that very clearly stemmed from my Southern conservative roots but that sounded futuristic and space-y at the same time." It seems like an odd thing to look for in the picturesque seaside green, rolling hills in the south of England, but Scott had never been there before, and as a stranger in a strange land she found what she was looking for: a lost childhood. Sprinter was recorded in a room that had formerly been used as a children's nursery, which combined with the alien landscape fuels the self-searching that roils TORRES' music. Following her self-titled debut in 2013, TORRES pushes herself to even noisier extremes on Sprinter, a punishing self-examination of epic spiritual and musical proportions. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Talks

Dawn Richard Talks with Torres on the Talkhouse Podcast

By Talkhouse Podcast | February 1, 2024

Dawn Richard Talks with Torres on the Talkhouse Podcast

Taking risks, making a lot with a little, and how running and performing can both be like exorcism.

Revisited: The Jar Will Always Lift Again

By Mackenzie Scott | January 2, 2019

Revisited: The Jar Will Always Lift Again

Mackenzie Scott (Torres) on her lifelong battle with depression.

The Jar Will Always Lift Again

By Mackenzie Scott | September 19, 2018

The Jar Will Always Lift Again

"Depression is like waking up beside someone in your bed who claims to know and love you, and having absolutely no recollection of who they are."

John Maus is a Modern Day Opera Ghost

By Mackenzie Scott | June 25, 2018

John Maus is a Modern Day Opera Ghost

"I think, in a way, all great recordings are created for the subconscious mind."

For Those Who Are not Living the American Dream

By Mackenzie Scott | April 2, 2018

For Those Who Are not Living the American Dream

On his latest album, David Byrne offers an altered vision of our modern "utopia."

Mackenzie Scott (Torres) Talks Pope Francis’ Wake Up!

By Mackenzie Scott | November 30, 2015

Mackenzie Scott (Torres) Talks Pope Francis’ Wake Up!

The Pope's album has a bizarre sonic and rhythmic frame, yet it manages to impart its intended meaning to our virtually monolingual Millennial writer.

Mackenzie Scott (Torres) Talks Sonny and the Sunsets’ Talent Night at the Ashram

By Mackenzie Scott | March 4, 2015

Mackenzie Scott (Torres) Talks Sonny and the Sunsets’ Talent Night at the Ashram

The California that Sonny Smith captures in this recording evokes a bliss somewhere between a swimming pool and oblivion.