Louisville indie pop band RELAAY is on a mission to be the band they needed as kids. Audrey Cecil and Amanda Lucas, who met in the late ‘90s, have built a lifelong friendship and creative partnership based on shared struggles. In their coming of age, they had no access to music and entertainment that truly reflected queer culture or identities. They strive to be the representation they needed as kids by showing up as who they are without reservation.

Their debut album, Midtempo Magic, is a sonically and emotionally layered album that tackles soul-crushing loss, impossibly difficult conversations, and reframes their own experiences, letting the listener hear and see themselves in the universal struggle to get by and be heard, to love and be loved.

This fall, RELAAY will bring Midtempo Magic to audiences across the country, with a standout performance at the Blossoms and Bones Ghost Ranch Music Festival in New Mexico on September 12, where they’ll share the bill with Ani DiFranco, Lucy Dacus, Hermanos Gutiérrez, and Shovels & Rope. 

Ahead of the tour, they joined WFPK host and producer Laura Shine for a conversation about the album, their upcoming shows, and the playful, retro-inspired, news-style music video for the opening track, “The Fallout.” Here’s a bit of their conversation.

Laura: I love the new video. So great. I like the news theme. Can you talk about why you picked that as your theme? 

Audrey: Yeah, for sure. I was driving one day. And something I’ve always known about Amanda is that she loves meteorology and the weather. So, I was driving down the street, and I voice memo’d her like, “Hear me out. We’re doing the news. We’re old school newscasters. You’re doing the weather. I’ll be the anchor.”  Amanda agreed, and we just went for it. It was a big undertaking. But yeah, your love for weather is what inspired my idea. 

Amanda: It’s all very DIY. We did all of it ourselves. But I was excited because, like she said, I’ve always loved weather. 

Laura: There’s so much more you have to do as a musician nowadays. You’ve got to create content and have to be way more than just a musician.

Audrey: All for less money. 

Laura: All for a lot less money.

Audrey: It’s brutal. We’re accountants, booking agents, content creators, and managers, and that’s what we do. You have to be so committed or so lucky.

Laura:  And have a lot of talent too. 

Amanda: Yeah, and so, it’s so funny, like, anytime Audrey and I have been fortunate enough to meet with someone in the industry, when you get into the meeting, one of the first questions is, “Who is on your team?” And it’s like, you’re looking at it. 

Laura: So, when you were growing up, say your teen years, formative years, when did you realize you were gay? 

Audrey: I was 22-ish. I was out of college, but fresh. 

Laura: What about for you, Amanda? 

Amanda: So, I grew up in a small-ish town, and I didn’t know what gay was until college. 

Laura: Oh, really? 

Amanda: Yeah, I had no idea that gay was an option. Looking back, I think that at the time, I thought I liked boys on television shows, but now, I realize I wanted to be like the boys on the television shows – Corey to the Topanga, Zack to the Kelly. I wanted to be like those boys because I liked those girls. The first song I wrote ever was about my first girlfriend, so I guess girls inspired the music in me. 

Audrey: You know, it’s weird when you come up in a world where it’s just not okay. I have friends who had their parents’ friends who they call, like, their gay uncles or their gay aunts. Or their actual real gay uncles or gay aunts. I mean, I don’t regret or have any, you know, sort of saltiness around any part of my life because I had a great life in, but I do envy them. I have memories of my dad racing to the TV remote to shield us from any mention of “gay” on TV. 

Laura: Do you think he was afraid, maybe you were gay? Do you think he saw it? 

Audrey: I don’t know. It’s pretty obvious. It was obvious then. 

Laura: When you look back at those pictures of yourselves, you’re like, “Oh…yeah.”

Audrey: I mean, my dad worked swing shift. And if he had 15 minutes awake, he spent those 15 minutes with me out in the backyard playing ball. I don’t know that he saw it, but I also don’t know how he couldn’t, right? He’s great now. I mean, it’s that solid truth that you can hate those people until it’s one of the people that you love. And he is the quintessential example of that.

Laura: Yeah. That’s right. He’s had some growth around that, obviously. 

Audrey: He had to. 

Laura: Yeah. He had no choice. Well, the choice would have been to cut you off completely. 

Audrey: Yeah, or for me to cut them off. 

Amanda: For me, it simply wasn’t talked about. It still isn’t. There’s definitely some denial, but it’s been a process, even for me. But I think something we’ve realized through this process is the importance of community. 

Laura: In your bio, you talk about growing up in the ’90s and wanting to make the kind of music you would have liked to grow up with. Can you tell me more about that?   

Audrey: Growing up the way we did, we weren’t introduced to queer culture until our 20s. Being authentic and sharing the truth as you see it requires vulnerability, but that’s what people relate to. That’s what we needed, and it’s what we hope to be for those in our community who need it most.

For Cecil and Lucas, Midtempo Magic is more than just a debut album; it’s a declaration. As they perform these songs across the country on their upcoming tour, it will be a chance to fulfill their band’s mission: to represent what they once searched for, to make the kind of music they needed as kids, and to connect with others who see themselves in that story. 

To see their fall tour dates, visit relaaytheband.com. To watch their new music video for “The Fallout,” head to youtube.com/@relaaytheband.