“I’ve Never Been Alone”

In her song, “Collect My Thoughts,” Michelle Macedo laments, “I’ve never been alone/Not even born alone/I can’t collect my thoughts.” This might be a rather puzzling sentiment until you find out that she is part of a matched set. She is an identical twin.

Throughout their lives, Michelle and her sister Melissa have struggled with learning how to identify and define themselves as individuals. “Everyone thought of us collectively,” Melissa noted. “We needed to become our own people.”

Going to separate colleges helped. “The years apart were good for us,” Melissa observed. But being apart was not their natural state, so the pair eventually reunited as Macedo. However, this time they were brandishing a newfound individuality which allowed the girls to forge a dazzlingly fresh and effervescent artistic symbiosis that was both rich in duality and remarkably unified in it’s focus.

“We’re excited to be back together and working on this music,” Melissa expressed. “We each bring a cool perspective to the mix. We instinctively know what will sound good and what will work.”

Flags & Boxes is the result of their reunion. The album elegantly displays Michelle’s beguiling, feisty nature tempered by her sister’s sweet and pensive personality. With this release, Macedo has achieved a rich, soul-fueled, sensual roar that rattles your bones with it’s raw and passionate delivery.

“Every song represents a time when I’ve used my voice,” Michelle revealed. “Each song is an instance where I’ve ‘planted my flag.’” Concerning the other half of the title, she informed, “I wrote the album in Boston in my last semester of college where I would try to think ‘outside of the box,’ but my boyfriend would try to be practical so I started teasing him by saying he was ‘in the box.’ It became apparent that ‘boxes’ were the limitations and doubts that I put on myself, the labels that other people put on me, and without even realizing it, it became the perfect metaphor. My goal was to plant my flag while his was to put a box around it.”

In writing this set of songs, Michelle learned to trust herself. She realized that what she thought and felt were just as valid as the things going through everyone else’s mind. “It sounds simple,” she pointed out, “but it's hard to understand sometimes.”

Halfway through the album, there is a song that just struts across the room, drops the F-bomb with a biting sincerity, slaps you hard across the face, then turns on it’s heels and is gone. Michelle stated that this song was perhaps the most important song that she wrote for the album.

“‘Nobody is Perfect’ is the only song that hasn't changed since the day I wrote it. It’s about infatuation and the clear road ahead of disappointment. I knew it wouldn't last and I knew if I felt that great, I would feel heartbreak to that intensity. I really tried to replace that one word because I thought it might be an issue on the album, but it was the perfect fit . . .”

“The song also has a great effect on the audience,” she continued. “When people think they know what kind of music we will play for the rest of the set, they are so surprised when they hear this song. Most people get really still and quiet. Lots of people laugh. It's one of my favorites to perform!”

For more information on Macedo, visit www.macedomusic.com.