Madi Diaz Concert Review: Crying in Cambridge

Somber blues lit Madi Diaz’s gentle smile during her performance on Feb. 29 at the Sinclair. The venue, while small, held space for the deep emotions captured in her poignant and moving performance. The stunning show had fairly plain instrumentation, with Diaz on guitar accompanied by drummer Adam Popick. This musical simplicity focused the attention on Diaz’s storytelling and powerful vocals, which held the crowd’s attention throughout the night.

The evening was sprinkled with anecdotes that shed light on the inspiration behind her most recent album, “Weird Faith.” Diaz narrated heartbreak from all angles, from her introspective inner turmoil in “Same Risk” to the breakup-anthem resentment in “Think of Me.” Diaz’s rich vocals reflected the catharsis in her songwriting process, and her dynamic range allowed her songs to tiptoe between delicately intimate moments and rage-filled rises. The sounds of both instruments bellowed in tandem, which made for a powerful performance despite the otherwise bare instrumentation.

Diaz began her moodier tune, “Hurting You,” with a laugh.

“This next song has been my favorite on the record for a little bit,” she said. “When you get hurt so many times, it’s really hard to continue to make the choice to be vulnerable to people that get close to you. And not just turn into a total dick.”

The night’s best moments were rooted in the connection that Diaz created with the audience. She originally wrote her song “For Months Now,” which she performed at the concert, as a demo with Jamie Floyd and Stephern Wrabel as their group the three of us. Diaz’s solo rendition of the song expressed lyrics describing the pain of a relationship’s slow decomposition: “I don't love you like I used to / I just don’t know how to tell you.”

Diaz closed the song with a playful quip at a couple at the front of the house who sang the bleak lyrics to each other.

“I found this picture of a couple making out in a graveyard today,” she said. “I was like, that’s what I want — making out in graveyards and holding each other, singing songs about ruining each other’s lives. I love that.”

Diaz is best known for her songs detailing her experiences with heartbreak, and the song “God Person” was a highlight with its lyrics about crises of faith and existence. Popick left the stage while Diaz switched to an acoustic guitar to sing the song on her own. Still, not a moment was lost. Diaz recounted the memory that inspired the song as she tuned her guitar, asking the audience questions to maintain their full attention.

Diaz described a camping trip with her dad in 2020 on an island without running water or electricity. According to Diaz, nature provided little comfort to their travel.

“My dad is really morbid around the ocean. I feel like we all get a little morbid around the ocean, right? Just staring at the ocean, it’s forever,” she said.

Indeed, the lyrics reflect an existential dread: “I’m not a God person, but I’m never not searchin’ / Lookin’ at the sky, starin’ at the ocean.” Diaz’s twang-filled voice rose and fell above the soft strums of her guitar, mirroring the cyclical movement of the ocean’s waves.

The show reached its full potential with her final song and the album’s namesake, “Weird Faith.”

“This whole record was written on the backs of a lot of mantras that I was trying to find for myself as I was trying not to give up for myself. That was how ‘Weird Faith’ came to be the thesis of this record,” Diaz said.

The night began with a celebration of the heavy emotions and feelings that come with loss and heartache, but the atmosphere in the room was uplifted by the end. From start to finish, the performance felt like a glimpse into Diaz’s diary. The evening demonstrated her remarkable vocals and ability to create a truly unique experience for her audience.

—Staff writer Gwendolyn M. Ibarra can be reached at gwendolyn.ibarra@thecrimson.com.