James Mckay
Singer/Songwriter from Bathgate now hitting the scene in Edinburgh and Glasgow predominantly. Previously compared to Damien Rice and Travis by another online reviewer.
Signs - James Mckay
Acoustic guitar based track with adequate vocals giving this song a complete feel. Good quality on this overly emotional track, lyrically obvious as points not offering anything that hasn't been done before by previous singer songwriters and done much better. To carry off the man with an acoustic guitar there needs to be an angle to it, Damien Rice has the Irish angry man feel, Turncoat has cheeky southern boy, even Will Young has stick up the arse English gentleman.
Find the Fault and Run - James Mckay
The guitar in this track is not particularly memorable with heavy vocals laden on the top. On first listen I didn't spot anything memorable and after 5 more listens I still fail to find the catch that I’m meant to be singing along to. Disappointingly dull track that never really captures the imagination and gives off the impression that the music was churned out one after the other without any rework done.
Midnight Blind - James Mckay
This track has an American feel to it, which isn’t a bad thing and works really well. Nicely different to the first two tracks and catches my imagination with some imagery produced from the gritty vocals. Once again this is well produced music which could possibly sounds great with some session musicians brought in for a studio recording.
Edge of the World - James Mckay
Uses Piano effectively in this track with more depth added to the emotion that pours from the vocals. A world apart from the first two tracks and my favourite offering from this artist. The pace of the track could pick up faster as the song goes on but it remains a sombre offering throughout.
Verdict
On the first two offerings I was struggling to even offer a rating for this one and that might sound harsh when you hear how well produced his tracks are, but for the style he is trying to get into it would be impossible to sell the music in competition with the abundance of singer/songwriters out in the market. The second two are better, without offering a unique angle. Could benefit a lot from working with a good pianist or even getting a band together to record a couple of tracks as he obviously has some talent just needs a better direction.
Links - James Mckay MySpace
Reviewed by Scottish Steve
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