Australia is hot. Lots of sun and filled with the deadliest creatures on the planet. What you may not be familiar with is the huge amount of musical talent that continually emerges from the island-continent in the southern hemisphere. The likes of AC/DC, Sia, Keith Urban and Missy Higgins are from Down Under, but there is a new Australian rising star and her name is Megan McInerney, but she goes by Meg Mac. The 26-year old singer-songwriter just released her first full-length, Low Blows, the follow up to her regionally successful EP, MegMac and the album has already topped the iTunes charts in Australia. With the US release hot on the heels of the Australian debut, the Melbourne-native’s LP should be seeing some love from their American counterparts.
Low Blows is filled with empowerment tracks that are graced by Meg Mac‘s lovely, gritty folk vocals that have a touch of Linda Ronstadt. The music is filled with lovely folk themed melodies that draw comparison to Carole King‘s Tapestry with refined and modernized production. Though do not get sucked into the fact that, it is described as folk, because it is and is not. It is a mostly piano-driven, storytelling style of music that has been lost over the years. With the invention of auto-tuning and GarageBand, Meg Mac actually recorded most of the vocals live and unedited giving the album a raw and honest feel.
Take for example the angsty, gritty “Ride It”. It is tinged with a grungy, bluesy rock guitar riff and peaks with Meg Mac‘s gravelly voice. Then she can bring it down a notch with a lovely piano ballad in “Shiny Bright”, that highlights her ability to sing with a bright, clear vocals.
There is so much to love about Low Blows and it continues to surprise with each listen. To ignore this album would be a travesty. This album should be in your collection now.
You can pick up Low Blows by Meg Mac on iTunes now and you can check out the title track, “Low Blow”, on SoundCloud below!
