Ace (Madison Cunningham album)

Ace
Studio album by Madison Cunningham
Released	October 10, 2025
Studio	Allaire (Ulster County) The Nest (Brooklyn) [a]
Genre	Chamber pop [1] folk [1]
Length	53:10
Label	Verve Forecast
Producer	Madison Cunningham Robbie Lackritz
Madison Cunningham chronology
Cunningham Bird (2024) Ace (2025)
Singles from Ace
"My Full Name" Released: August 15, 2025 "Wake" Released: September 12, 2025 "Break the Jaw" Released: October 8, 2025

Ace is the third ^[b] studio album by American musician Madison Cunningham. It was released on October 10, 2025, ^[2] through Verve Forecast Records. The album was produced by Cunningham alongside Robbie Lackritz. "My Full Name" was released as the album's lead single on August 15, 2025, followed by "Wake" (featuring Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes) on September 12. ^{[3] [4]}

Background

Ace follows up Cunningham's collaboration with singer-songwriter Andrew Bird, Cunningham Bird (2024), which is a track-by-track cover of Buckingham Nicks (1973), as well as Cunningham's second studio album Revealer (2022), the latter of which won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. ^[5]

An official album "bio" for Ace states that the majority of the songs on the album were written in August 2024 following a period of writer's block, and deal with themes of heartbreak, betrayal, and falling in and out of love. ^[6] Additionally, Cunningham described the album as "the first record that's ever felt like mine from start to finish. It was as light to make as its subject matter was heavy." ^[7] Cunningham performed much of the new material live throughout early 2025, before the album had been announced. ^[8]

Cunningham wrote "Wake" while in Nashville during a blizzard in January; the song stemmed from experimentation with a new alternate tuning on guitar. The final recording is a duet with Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes and also features prominent upright bass played by Daniel Rhine. ^[9] Cunningham described the track as a "song about reflection, about looking in the rearview mirror and seeing someone wasn't right for you all along." ^[10]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100 [11]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
God Is in the TV	8/10 [13]
Paste	8/10 [14]
Pitchfork	7.5/10 [1]
The Skinny	[15]

Lead single "My Full Name" was included on "best songs of the week" lists published by Consequence and Paste . Consequence called the song "as warm as it is sad", praising it as "delicate" and "absolutely lovely". ^[2] Writing for Paste, Camryn Teder praised the lyrics, calling them "as simultaneously sprawling and intimate as an ancient work of poetry", while declaring the song as a whole to be "swelling with heart and emotion". ^[16]

Upon release, Ace received positive reviews from critics. Writing for Paste, Caroline Nieto gave the album a rating of 8 out of 10, declaring it to be Cunningham's best release to date. ^[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Madison Cunningham, except where noted.

Ace track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Shatter into Form I"		0:46
2.	"Shore"		5:30
3.	"Skeletree"		5:01
4.	"Mummy"		4:05
5.	"Take Two"		4:06
6.	"Wake" (feat. Fleet Foxes)	Cunningham Will Taylor	4:15
7.	"Break the Jaw"	Cunningham Kyle Crane Philip Krohnengold Daniel Rhine	4:08
8.	"Invisible Chalk"		3:29
9.	"Shatter into Form II"		0:50
10.	"My Full Name"		3:18
11.	"Golden Gate (On and On)"	Cunningham Robbie Lackritz Sam Weber	3:32
12.	"Beyond That Moon"		3:55
13.	"Goodwill"		5:06
14.	"Best of Us"	Cunningham Weber	5:09
Total length:			53:10

Personnel

• Madison Cunningham – vocals (2-8, 10-14), backing vocals (3, 7, 13, 14) piano (1, 2, 9, 10), upright piano (5), acoustic guitar (3, 6), electric guitar (3, 7, 13), nylon guitar (4, 6-8, 12-14), 12-string guitar (14), bass (4, 5, 11), celeste (5), stomps (6), woodwind arrangement (1-5), strings arrangement (3, 7, 11, 12, 14)
• Jesse Chandler – flute (1-5, 7-10, 12, 13), alto flute (4, 5, 7-10, 12-14), clarinet (2, 4, 5, 7-10, 12, 13), bass clarinet (2-5, 7-14), saxophone (10), celeste (4), vibraphone (4, 14), grand piano (5), pianet (5), plucked piano (7), kalimba (7), stomps (6), woodwind arrangement (1-5),
• Kyle Crane – drums (3, 4, 7, 8, 11-14), percussion (2-5, 7, 8, 10-14), timpani (5)
• Daniel Rhine – bass (3, 7, 8, 12), upright bass (2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14), bowed bass (10), U-bass (11), Moog synthesizer (7), bowed vibraphone (7), waterphone (7)
• Philip Krohnengold – piano (3, 8, 12), Mellotron (3, 7, 8, 11-13), celeste (4, 8), OP-1 (4, 14), pianet (7), vibraphone (7), ring modulator (11), strings arrangement (3, 7, 11, 12, 14)
• Sam Weber – vocals (11, 12), electric guitar (11, 12), piano (14)
• Rob Moose – violin (3, 7, 11, 12, 14), viola (3, 7, 11, 12, 14), cello (11), strings arrangement (3, 7, 11, 12, 14)
• Gabe Noel – cello (13)
• Robin Pecknold – vocals (6)
• Johanna Samuels – backing vocals (3)

Charts

Chart performance for Ace

Chart (2025)	Peak position
UK Americana Albums (OCC) [17]	31

Notes

1. Strings recorded at Smilo Sound in Brooklyn, NY.
2. Ace is officially considered to be Cunningham's third studio album. However, it is her fourth if her since-deleted 2014 album Authenticity is included.

References

1. Jocelyn, Hannah (October 15, 2025). "Madison Cunningham – Ace Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
2. Consequence Staff (August 15, 2025). "Statf Picks: Best Tracks of the Week August 9th – August 15th". Consequence. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
3. Deville, Chris (September 12, 2025). "Madison Cunningham – "Wake" (feat. Fleet Foxes)". Stereogum. Retrieved September 12, 2025.
4. Strauss, Matthew (September 12, 2025). "Listen to Madison Cunningham and Fleet Foxes' New Song "Wake"". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 12, 2025.
5. "Watch Madison Cunningham Perform 'Life According To Raechel' At The Premiere Ceremony". Grammy Awards. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
6. "'Ace' Bio". Madison Cunningham. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
7. Armstrong, Sam (August 18, 2025). "Madison Cunningham Announces Third Album, 'Ace'". uDiscoverMusic. Retrieved August 18, 2025.
8. Hawthorne, Katie (January 19, 2025). "Madison Cunningham review – complex new tunes from a folk singer with a knack for a twist". The Guardian. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
9. Kahn, Andy (September 12, 2025). "Madison Cunningham Shares 'Wake' Single Featuring Fleet Foxes & Confirms 2026 Tour". Jambase. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
10. Gregory, Allie (September 12, 2025). "Madison Cunningham Books North American Tour, Shares New Single with Fleet Foxes". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
11. "Reviews for Ace by Madison Cunningham". Metacritic . Retrieved October 18, 2025.
12. Monger, Timothy (October 10, 2025). "Ace - Madison Cunningham". AllMusic . Retrieved October 18, 2025.
13. Elkin, Trev (October 8, 2025). "Madison Cunningham – Ace (Verve Forecast)". God Is in the TV . Retrieved October 18, 2025.
14. Nieto, Caroline (October 13, 2025). "Madison Cunningham Finds Her Ace In the Hole". Paste. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
15. White, Zoë (October 7, 2025). "Madison Cunningham – Ace". The Skinny. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
16. Paste Staff (August 21, 2025). "Best New Songs (August 21, 2025)". Paste. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
17. "Official Americana Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 18, 2025.