LOW BLOWS
(littleBIGMAN)
7.5/10
Her rise from Triple J’s 2014 Unearthed winner to US touring was meteoric, but were any confirmation needed that Meg Mac is the real deal this debut album is it. She has eschewed the surgical layering of sounds in favour of a live-in-the-studio rawness that suits the edge to her voice, even if that edge can occasionally come a little close to petulance. This is a voice that wants to ride an authentic, thumping rhythm section, not a cyber-world of prissy samples and machines, and the album was recorded in Texas, where they know a thing or two about making their music simultaneously punchy and soulful.
Mac’s songs, meanwhile, often have a thread of urgency running through them, so they grip you by the throat and demand the use of your ears, the exception being the disjointed Kindness, which may have been better off split into two. Her own piano is regularly a prominent part of the accompaniment, including on the appealing Maybe It’s My First Time and the affecting Shiny Bright.