It is fair to say that the singles “Wave” and “Can’t Get the Better of Me” did their job perfectly, building interest and intrigue for the album to come. But even they, as great as they are, might not have prepared the audience at large for what we find on See It Through.
Any album that can kick things off with a track like “Haunt Me” without making it the lead single is clearly the mark of an artist confident in their music, knowing that their canon of songs are good enough that you don’t have to give it all away too soon. This opening salvo is a brilliant update on ’80s rock, reveling in the same blend of accessibility and infectiousness, while leaving behind the clichés, a theme and style choice that runs through the album as a whole.
The title track takes this sound clash of the familiar and the fresh even further, running on liquid grooves that blend the analogue and digital worlds, yet sound forward-thinking rather than backward-looking.
“Kiss The Earth Goodbye” runs on a wide-screen, cinematic sound, powerful yet full of poise, and certainly lyrically, full of poignancy and purpose. “One Mistake I Can’t Repeat” shows that Scott McDonald is also at home weilding an acoustic guitar, a remarkable folk-rock change of pace and “Circling the Drain” is one of those fist-in-the-air, foot-on-the-monitor, kick ass, horn and harmony rich, rock and roll anthems, the sort of thing that Joan Jett would have wrestled you to the ground to get her hands on back in the day.
Scott McDonald seems to collect ideas from every corner of the rock’n’ roll playbook and then some, happy to crank up the weight when the moment calls for it, but just as comfortable drifting into more thoughtful, artful territory. Classic rock echoes rub shoulders with more alternative leanings, stadium-sized lifts give way to quieter, mood-drenched passages. And it isn’t just about bending genres into new shapes; he is equally at ease stitching together different times and textures, blurring past and present into something that feels wholly his own, totally of the here and now, and perfect for setting the rock and roll’s future agenda.
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[…] Scott McDonald is an artist that I am becoming familiar with via Bongo Boy’s promotion of his music. “One Mistake I Can’t Repeat” is a perfect example of why he is catching people’s attention: a song that rises out of an acoustic pop place and heads into more rock-and-roll climes. The result is a song that uses the infectiousness of pop to temper rock’s rawer sound, while rock’s impetus and drive take pop music into the stratosphere. It’s what he does. And he does it so well. […]
[…] Scott McDonald then takes us into the rock realms, “Circling The Drain” being one of those songs that is both anthemic and full of big, contagious grooves, but balances out that expansive sound with superb harmonies and salvos of brass, punchy piano, and big guitar riffs, making it effortlessly easy on the ear and demanding that you get down and boogie. […]