Acoustic-guitar strumming singer-songwriters lie a little outside my usual field of interest, so I wasn't at all sure what to expect from Amy Macdonald, a 19-year-old Glasgow lass who's worked her way up from the pub circuit and into the arms of a record contract. I certainly wasn't prepared for anything so utterly charming.
Here are songs which thrum with the sort of straightforward, heartfelt simplicity that you can get away with when you're 19. And such a
voice! Polite interest gives way to genuine excitement as the girl lets rip with a rich, powerful sound that has no business coming from anyone so young. Heads nod. Feet tap. That one guy up the front starts dancing in a terribly self-conscious sort of way. It's a fine thing to behold.
So long as you don't pay too much attention to the lyrics, that is. They're mostly forgivable, but terribly naïve. "This is a song about Pete Docherty", says Amy, as she announces her forthcoming single,
Poison Prince. "Yeah, yeah, boo hiss". It's damnably catchy, but with lyrics like "I tell you this, my poison prince, you'll soon be knocking on heaven's door", all you can really do is shake your head. I wish I could say that she didn't come out with the line "this one's actually about a time I got a telling off from a guy outside B&Q", but she totally did.
Superficial songs, then, but beautiful nonetheless. The obvious comparison to draw is The Cranberries, as there's a strong vocal resemblance, but there are shades of The Killers (she does a belting cover of Mr. Brightside"), The Verve, and Travis at their least shit. As a developing talent, this one's certainly worth keeping an eye on.
Amy Macdonald returns to King Tut's on the 12th of April, this time with a band in tow. She's already proven herself an extremely capable musician in her own right; it'll be interesting to see what she can do with some backing.
Poison Prince wil be released on the 7th of May through
Mercury Records, with an album to follow in the summer.
http://www.amymacdonald.co.uk/ http://www.myspace.com/amymacdonald
