Amy Macdonald

Amy MacDonald is that proverbial old head on young shoulders, a Scottish singer-songwriter who, despite her tender 19 years, writes songs with the grace, wisdom, and proficiency of one with a score more on the clock. As influenced by the Libertines as by any venerable old folk hand, the eleven songs on This Is the Life combine a traditional, acoustic folk-rock sound with a youthful spirit and self-assured lyrics that veer between the observational and the confessional. "Poison Prince" is a jagged guitar strut dedicated to some Doherty-like bad boy, a song every bit as pathos-laden as the Libertines at their doomed, romantic best with a closing treatise to find "An upbeat song/So we can dance the night away," while "Mr. Rock & Roll" begins as a wryly withering jibe at some perennial party animals, but by the chorus has softened into a subtle, touching tale of human coupling. MacDonald's a ...

2008-08-19 - Decca U.S.