MY MACDONALD | ZMF Freiburg

In the organizer's words:

Six million albums sold. Five top five studio albums, two of which were number one in the UK. World tours in front of 3.3 million people. Over 1 billion streams. A 2007 single, This Is The Life, which reached number one in ten countries. Seventeen years of sustained international success, during which she has resolutely and steadfastly gone her own way.

And 2020 saw the release of Amy Macdonald's best album to date.

The Human Demands, produced by Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys / Kasabian), reconnects her with her alternative roots and her ability to write classic songs that sound like they've always been there, albeit with a new, Bruce Springsteen-esque breadth and ambition to match Amy Macdonald's powerful, resonant alto voice. The album also tackles the heavy themes that most of us have to deal with sooner or later: falling in love, burning bridges, coping with depression, growing up. And all this from an acoustic guitar-playing indie rocker who actually only wanted to perform with Travis at the Scottish T In The Park Festival.

Amy Macdonald isn't one for love songs, but marriage does strange things to people, and Fire, which opens the album, is a heartfelt tribute to her husband and one of the most romantic songs she's ever sung. "It was the first song I wrote after I got married, in Las Vegas of all places," she says. "I co-wrote it with my friend Matt Jones, and we had the song done in half an hour. I was so happy at the time, newly married, that I came up with something that wasn't typical for me at all. I said to my husband, "This is the only song you'll ever hear from me, so enjoy it.

All this coming from someone who has had fifteen years of huge success in the music industry while remaining her own woman. "When you're starting out, nothing can prepare you for it," she says of early fame. "No one sits you down and explains how you feel when you're thrust in front of people who give you their opinion, who tell you if they think you suck. I was doing my own thing, playing small gigs and open mic nights, and suddenly I had a number one album in all these countries. I was so young that I didn't analyze much and just thought the whole thing was funny. It's only when you get older that you start to think about it all.

Now, all these years later, Amy Macdonald is back where she started: with an album that captures the essence of who she is. The fact that it was made in the midst of a global pandemic only adds to her sense that this is a new beginning.

"At first I was apprehensive about releasing music in a pandemic, because let's face it, there are more important things," Amy Macdonald concludes. "But then I thought: it's different, it's new, it's interesting, and normally I would be flying around Europe, doing radio sessions and interviews. Now I can't do that anymore, and that also makes me feel like we're back to square one, because I wasn't doing those things then either. I'm now back to making music that I like and just releasing it. It's given me a new love for what I do, all over again.

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Standing room concert