A stellar experience

As a fan of Amy Macdonald’s music since the early days I greeted the news of her fourth studio album with no small degree of trepidation. ‘This is the Life’ remains one of my favorite albums and ‘A Curious Thing’ was a worthy follow up; however ‘Life in a Beautiful Light’ just never quite did it for me for some reason. It was not a bad album by any means but it just felt slightly forced and formulaic.
The break since that last album has clearly done Amy the power of good and following the fantastic concert at the Glasgow Fruit market in October it seemed clear that she was back to her best (though the tattoos were something of a shock). The question though was whether or not ‘Under Star’s would follow on in a similar vein. I am delighted to say that it does in fact deliver in spades on every single level.
From the booming opening of ‘Dream On’ and the titled song ‘Under Stars’ through the more reflective (date I say husky sounding??) ‘River’ down to the beutiful ‘From the Ashes’ this is an album of great depth that also feels more mature than any of its predecessors. Despite this it still retains the enthusiasm and signature booming vocals that is such a distinctive feature of her music (it remains a constant surprise that someone so softly spoken when not singing can generate that much sheer power when on stage or in the studio).
All in all a spectacular return to form from the Scottish songstress and hopefully a sign of things to come.