Disco de Amy Macdonald: “This is the Life”

A friend of mine from England recently sent me this CD and I'm finding myself listening to it daily. There's a spate of talented female singer/songwriters deservedly coming to the fore in the UK right now, names such as Duffy, Adele, Kate Nash and Amy Macdonald.

Amy is a 20 year old Glaswegian who released this, her first album, in July 2007. It entered the UK album charts at No. 2 and stayed in the Top 10 for a while before gradually slipping down the charts. Then, for some reason, it came back around Christmas time (probably when everyone was buying it as a present for friends and relatives) and in early January 2008 it went to No. 1 for one week. Amy wrote all the songs on the album herself and plays acoustic guitar on every track. Her voice somehow sounds much older than that of a 20 year old. She also seems to have an "old head on young shoulders" as her subject matter is very mature.

There's one song called "Footballer's Wife" where she asks where all the real stars have gone, like James Dean and Fred Astaire, when today reality TV contestants and footballer's wives all think they're stars of the same calibre, which is partly the fault of the public who are prepared to settle for making overnight stars of them.

Macdonald recently supported Paul Weller (formerly of The Jam and now a renowned solo artist) on tour and he has named the track "Run" from this album his favorite song. In fact, Weller would stand in the wings every night and watch Macdonald perform the song.

"Poison Prince" is a song about Pete Docherty of the band Baby Shambles (and drug-addicted boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss). Macdonald met Docherty on one occasion and found him to be very charming, intelligent and poetic but hated the fact that all of these qualities are obscured from the public's eyes because of Docherty's notorious drug addiction and frequent wild behaviour.

This is an excellent CD overall and one of the best I've heard in a while. Be sure to get this version and not the international release as this version contains the brilliant extra track, "The Road To Home" and the wonderful hidden track, "Caladonia".

Young Amy Macdonald is no stranger to millions of fans in Europe as she is a 2 time platinum selling and award winning artist. She started playing guitar and writing music/lyrics at 12 in Scotland, gigging at 15 and the rest is history, albeit a brief one so far. The 1st US release, which hits the street on August 19th, 2008, titled, "This Is The Life" has an acoustic folk/pop sound starts out well with the tunes, "Mr. Rock & Roll", the title song, "This Is The Life" and "Poison Prince" which very well may be an ode to good pal, Pete Doherty of Babyshambles/Kate Moss fame or someone like him. However, the sappy song, L.A.; an admitted ode to Jake Gyllenhall and "Footballer's Wife" are quite vapid.

Gotta remember, though that this is a girl of 19. She writes about teenage angst and therein lies a bit of a problem. Amy's voice is unbelievably mature beyond her years and is somewhere juxtaposed between Joan Armatrading, Judy Collins, KT Tunstall and Lilly Allen. Yeah, I know... Odd combination.

The tracks seem to gradually get a bit muddied with "Youth Of Today" being my least favorite on the CD. But the song, "A Wish For Something More" has a timeless story of a woman who happens to be best friends with a man but wishes for something more in their relationship. This is probably the best track on the CD in my opinion.

I believe that as Amy matures, so will her lyrics and approach to music in general. Plan to see many great things from Amy in the future. I am sure she will have the great success she has had in Europe and be received very well right here in the U.S.A.

Imagine if Dolores O'Riordan were the lead singer of 10,000 Maniac's, and that would be about an 85% accurate description of this CD. (Yes I know O'Riordan is Irish, but it's at least comparing apples and pears.) If my comparison didn't ring a bell for you, think of a folk/pop singer/songwriter with a collection of songs that range from upbeat and peppy to more yearning and pensive.

Vocally, MacDonald is likely to be polarizing. Her Scottish accent comes through in much the same way that O'Riordan's Irish accent does. It is noticeable but not distracting. However there will be some who are put off by it. I personally found that it gives a nice variety and is one of the things that distinguishes her work from other artists that I listen to. While she doesn't have a transcendent voice, I think that she holds her own within the folk genre.

Lyrically, she does show her youth with lines like this from Poison Prince, "why would a genius be trippin on me". This is shows through even more on the following track, "Youth of Today" where MacDonald addresses the generation gaps that have existed between youth and adults for as long as there have been youth and adults. Her youth in songwriting also shows in some of the style of lyrics she writes. Specifically some songs are on the repetitive side. Run has sort of a split multi-chorus of nine lines where each of the first four contain the word 'know' in metrically the same place while the remaining five have the word 'until' in metrically the same place. Another example follows on Let's Start A Band as it concludes with the words of the title repeated four times in succession. It may seem that I am being overly critical of her songwriting, but I think this is the area where she will grow the most over time. Not every song is lyrically flawed. With Mr. Rock & Roll, MacDonald does a good job of putting her spin on people who meet too late to fall in love. Also Barrowland Ballroom is fun ditty about a small concert venue in Glasgow where a lot of big and small names have played - including Ms. MacDonald.

Instrumentally, I think this CD is well done. There is a good blending of acoustic and electric guitars along with the traditional folk staples of fiddle and banjo. The rhythm section supports the other pieces well without ever taking over. I also really like the use of piano on the more up tempo songs such as Barrowland Ballroom.

Overall, this is a nice first effort from Amy MacDonald. While she has some room to grow lyrically, I think she has a lot of potential to be a solid folk/pop performer in the years to come. If a combination of 10,000 Maniacs and Scottish folk music sounds interesting to you give this a spin.

Download this: Barrowland Ballroom

My musical tastes range all over the place -- from breakcore to southern gothic. And I'm a sucker for a good, clean pop album, and "This Is the Life" sure feels like that.

Amy Macdonald, a 20-year-old Scottish import, is certainly a soulful songwriter for someone so young. And yet she never fully loses the guilelessness of youth (witness the unaffected naivete of "Let's Start A Band"). She even takes a sharp shot at phony, fifteen-minutes-of-fame celebs with "Footballer's Wife." Her ideas thankfully never come with a fake Lavigne-like anger.

I think she has a little Jack White and P.J. Harvey in her. No matter the subject, her songs (which are never overproduced) have a velocity and impel you along.

There's not a single beat song on the CD, but "Barrowland Ballroom" is a brilliant standout. If this song doesn't inspire you to move, dance, something, then check yourself for a pulse.

"This is the Life" is a terrifically fun and entertaining debut.

I put on this CD as soon as I got it. We have a 3 week old baby, in addition to our other four children (ages 6, 4, 3, and 19 months) - we were having a moment where the baby fusses, the kids whine, etc etc, and the mailman rang the bell. So a new package was great, and the CD, whether I liked it or not, would at least distract me.

What a pleasant surprise! I like it! A LOT! Amy Macdonald seems to me to be a cross between Alanis Morrisette and Allison Krauss. She has a sweet voice, but with more strength that Krauss, and a lovely soft rhythm to her songs, but again, nothing wimpy, which is more Morrisette. I also enjoy the Proclaimers a lot, and some of her songs reminded me of their beat. All that is to say that the mix on the CD is a good one. The kids ran outside to play, and the 3 week old was settled down as I swayed to the lovely lyrics and melody.

If you are a fan of folk, or anything off beat, but still soothing and interesting, you will NOT be disappointed. It's a huge plus that I don't have to censor this music while children are around. They sing and twirl to it already. Wonderful! Buy it!

Sra. Gose

Author of Spanish Fun Activity Calendar