Art School Girlfriend

Polly Mackey’s second album, Soft Landing -due out in August 2023 -is the culmination of Art School Girlfriend’s contemporary artistic testament. It represents a tonal shift and tenure in a much more contented and philosophical state of being. The title presented itself to her through the frequency illusion: a turn of phrase thrown up in overheard conversation, and mentioned on the news. “‘Soft landing’ showed up to strike me when things were falling into place,” Polly says. “I was at that typical moment where you’re leaving your 20s and realising you don’t have to work toward this concept of future happiness. Going to the pub with your mates can be the ultimate. Lying beside the person you love, watching the sun come in, can be it.”

This album percolates in these “small euphorias”; elations of life you don’t have to reach far for. “It captures what a lot of people coming out of COVID have felt, looking for joy closer to home, in your immediate surroundings,” Polly says. “I am much more interested in capturing a time and feeling, than getting it perfectly right.”

Alongside her own headline tour and festival dates, Art School Girlfriend has toured Europe alongside Marika Hackman, the UK alongside Orlando Weeks and the US alongside The Japanese House. Outside of her own artist project, Mackey also lent vocals toGhostpoet’s album ‘I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep’ and runs a monthly ambient/electronic show for Peckham-based female-led radio station, Foundation FM.