Music Review: Amy MacDonald—‘This Is The Life’

Music Review: Amy MacDonald—‘This Is The Life’
8/28/2008
Updated:
9/5/2008
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With the public always yearning to tag a new pop music star, 2008’s likeliest discovery may in fact be 20-year-old Glaswegian folk rocker, Amy MacDonald.

MacDonald grew from humble beginnings—a typical young lady, born in a northern suburb of Glasgow.  

It all began at the age of 12, after purchasing her first CD and earliest inspiration, The Man Who, by the fellow Scottish band Travis. It was then, after hearing songs like “Driftwood” and “Why Does It Always Rain on Me” that Amy—possessing a natural ear for music—picked up her father’s acoustic guitar and began crafting her earliest melodies.  

Within eight short years, MacDonald would see her debut album, This Is The Life, climb the 2007 British charts, finally knocking Radiohead’s In Rainbows out of top position in January of this year.

So far, her first U.S. single, “Mr. Rock & Roll,” has achieved great success, being played right away on 30-plus stations. And why wouldn’t it? This Is The Life went double platinum in the U.K., selling more than 700,000 copies.  

MacDonald’s chord progressions are catchy, her voice is clear and commanding, and the lyrics are surprisingly mature.

The album’s opening track, “Mr. Rock & Roll,” quickly sets the standard, a bright instance of MacDonald’s knack for songwriting. The song’s main characters—So-called Mr. Rock & Roll, Rock Chick of the Century, Mrs. Black & White, and Mr. Multi-Cultural—are, in essence, flawed but able to reflect on the passage of time and what life could have been. The song ends on a light note, “… there is a happy ending every single day.”

While “Mr. Rock & Roll” is uppity pop at its best, the candid title of “Poison Prince,” says it all, and is accompanied by a hard beat guitar strum and a sultry, minor-chord edge.

“Let’s Start a Band,” with its Latin flare brings the modern troubadour out of MacDonald and seems to burst right from her heart as she sings, “Give me a guitar and I’ll be a troubadour … Give me a stage, and I’ll be a rock and roll queen … And if you wanted to, and there’s nothing left to do, let’s start a band.”

Songs like “Run,” “L.A.,” and “Wish for Something More,” all share a glimpse of MacDonald’s beyond-her-years-abilities. The entire album will equally appeal to fans of indie, folk, and pop rock.  

MacDonald softens up at the end of the album with an easy ballad, “The Road To Home.” Time will tell if the song’s final lyric—“I’ll see you soon, and it won’t be long”—hints that This Is The Life is just the first of many successful musical installments in the blossoming career of Ms. Amy MacDonald.

 

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