Firebreach Records (label)
06 August 2012 (released)
31 July 2012
Not to get confused with the rockier and edgier Amy McDonald, Anna MacDonald also hails from Glasgow but provides a very different style. Her plaintive Celtic piano ballads are almost perfect in pitch and sound but perfect does not always provide entertainment, or for that matter sales.
After all, two of Britain’s biggest selling females of all time - Dido and Adele - aren't exactly gifted with pitch perfect voices. An obviously talented musician, MacDonald leans heavily towards traditional folk and plays piano, guitar and harp across the five tracks.
The best of which is Glasgow Rain, about her beloved home city; "there's still rain on my windowpane, it seems every night is the same" she sings, painting a traditional picture of the rainy city. Her clever piano playing even sounds like rain in the background, and the delicate droplets work well. Elsewhere, on Paper Flowers and Banks of Inverurie, her slightly trill vocal begins to irritate and although well played, most of the ballads lack the necessary spark.
