Description
Calum MacDonald is an alternate / folk musician who has performed widely solo as well as in collaboration with other artists over several years. The line ups have changed, the names haven’t always been the same but MacDonald’s writing has continued, developing into the story telling melodic tunes they are today.
His songs are about love, anger and regret. They contain stories of social awareness, of happiness, of pain, of the journeys that are shared by us all. Growing up MacDonald was surrounded by an abundance of sounds. Recordings of Scottish traditional music, English folk, jazz and pop, everything from the big bands to trad jazz combos were being played.
Today his music is more akin to the contemporary folk, underground, alternate sounds of artists such as Bonnie Prince Billy, Bill Callaghan and Ron Sexsmith.
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This ep consists of 4 whimsical tracks, featuring MacDonald with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, strummed very lightly at that! The opening track, “Morroco” (sic) clocks in at less than 2 minutes, reminding me of the work of Hans Poulsen. His voice is reedy, the songs slowish and very laid back. Track 2 “They Don’t Always Die” is about about succeeding in achieving a dream; The epic centrepiece of the ep is “Where Will You Sleep Tonight” is about homelessness; the last track, a love song, “Sadness in Our Eyes” is even slower and more melancholy than the previous tracks, evoking comparisons of Cat Stevens! Here we can hear the pathos exemplified by the squeaking of the guitar strings as Calum changes chords.
I’m not sure if I could sustain listening to a whole album, for if I had been using this ep as a sampler of my work, I might have included a couple of tunes that were different in rhythm and style. Of interest to those of you who are into acoustic singersongwriters.
