''I was going out, getting so drunk all the time and then waking up being like, 'what am I doing with my life?
"I wrote 'Candy's House' one morning when I woke up real hungover and sad, thinking what am I doing and why am I here?
''I guess the 'Candy's House' thing was about any slightly reality-delaying thing that you do, whether it's going out, or being with someone that you shouldn't be with, or hanging out with people you shouldn't hang out with.
''Those instant gratification things that delay having to actually think about where you are, and what you want your life to be."
Committing herself to the art of music making has seen the songwriter put herself through the paces, including a couple of years spent doing regular open mic nights to help conquer performance anxiety.
"My nerves would kill me. I'd be on stage and couldn't sing because I was so shaky – now I don't feel that way.
''And you get used to a bad crowd with open mics, so if I'm at a bigger thing now and people are a bit drunk or rowdy, I don't feel personally offended."
Mae has also trained herself to produce her own songs, creating demo after demo and releasing her efforts via Soundcloud.
More recently she's been focused on collaborating with other producers, which she credits for helping her to break out of her characteristically solitary approach to songcraft – a tendency Mae thinks she picked up from her dad.
"Dad was always secretive with his own music – he wouldn't show us songs until they were completely perfect, and I think it taught me in the beginning of my making music to be a hermit of a songwriter.
''I was really bad at collaborating with anyone, because I was so secretive and precious about it.''
"It's been an interesting adjustment now that I'm more in the music world in Auckland, and collaborating with people. You're in a session with a producer and they're like, you got a chorus? And I'm like, oh my god I'm so embarrassed by this but I just have to sing it, because we've only got four hours."
Another tasty tune Rita Mae has up her sleeve is 'Super Feeling'.
Unreleased but performed here for Locals Only (with her sister Bridie Lang on guitar and vocals), Mae says its themes are similar to that of 'Candy's House'.
"'Super Feeling' is about being with the wrong person, and in the light of day feeling the s***ness of it – when they're not there, you're aware of how bad the thing is, and you can see it all clearly, but when you're with them you forget about all of the logical stuff.
''You're borrowing from your future self's happiness, or something."
Learning how to keep something in the bank for her future self to draw down seems to be working out for Rita Mae.
The energy she's put into developing her writing and production skills means she's prepared for the exciting live opportunities that are starting to come her way, now that performing is a reliable possibility once again.
"It's been an interesting thing trying to figure out how the songs are supposed to be live. When you record something you get to put weird sounds in that you can't really play on an instrument, or samples from the internet.
''So it's quite an interesting thing to work out, how do we even do this live? It can get complicated quickly, but it's fun."
