Madi Diaz – Fatal Optimist
Last Friday, Madi Diaz released her new album, Fatal Optimist, via ANTI-.
The album includes the following previously released singles “Ambivalence”, “Feel Something” and “Heavy Metal.”
Following 2021’s breakthrough History of Feeling and 2024’s two-time Grammy nominated Weird Faith, Diaz is now asking audiences to lean in close. Fatal Optimist is her album most likely to haunt you with its starkness. In Diaz’s words, “Fatal Optimism is the innate hope for something magical. It’s the weird faith that kicks in while knowing that there is just plain risk that comes with wanting someone or something. It’s when you have no control over the outcome, but still choose to experience every moment that happens, and put your whole heart in it.”
After ending a relationship with someone she once envisioned marrying, Diaz turned away from everyone and everything she knew and took herself to an island. Her time alone emerged as a powerful, insightful period of introspection. Rage, embarrassment and romantic grief shifted into inner wholeness and the pieces of Fatal Optimist started falling into place.
Recorded with co-producer Gabe Wax (Soccer Mommy, Zach Bryan) at his Infinite Family Studio, the album needed to mirror that isolation. “This was the first time in my career that I stayed in this heavy place with the songs after leaving the studio rather than trying to escape it,” she says. While you’ll find subtle accompaniment from an occasional baritone guitar or bass, Fatal Optimist comes down to Diaz alone in a room with her acoustic guitar. Simplicity can be much more difficult to nail than camouflaging a song with layers of production, and it is exactly what these songs needed
Next month, Diaz will embark on an extensive North American tour.
Madi Diaz Tour Dates:
Mon. Oct. 13 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern Cafe & Music Hall #
Tue. Oct. 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry at The Fillmore Philadelphia #
Thu. Oct. 16 – Washington, D.C. @ Union Stage #
Fri. Oct. 17 – Lancaster, PA @ West Art #
Sat. Oct. 18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #
Mon. Oct. 20 – Somerville, MA @ Arts at the Armory #
Tue. Oct. 21 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall #
Thu. Oct. 23 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark #
Sat. Oct. 25 – Evanston, IL @ SPACE #
Sun. Oct. 26 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre #
Mon. Oct. 27 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry #
Thu. Nov. 13 – Seattle, WA @ Fremont Abbey Arts Center ^
Fri. Nov. 14 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios ^
Sat. Nov. 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret ^
Tue. Nov. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent ^
Thu. Nov. 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Highland Park Ebell ^+
Fri. Nov. 21 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s ^
@ with Benjamin Francis Leftwich
# with Clover County
^ with Morgan Nagler
+with Olivia Kaplan
#madidiaz