Wave – Scott McDonald (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Scott McDonald walks a fine line between several genres, but he does so with the utmost, sure-footed confidence. It would be easy to label this as modern rock and roll, which I suppose it is, but to merely tag it such would be to ignore the sonic intricacies and clever meeting of sonic worlds that it is built on.

Rock is central to the song’s feel, but Scott is clever enough to take the raw groove of wilder garage rock urges and polish them into more commercial and accessible sounds. And for every rock and roll groove, there is an equal number of, if not pop, moves, then indeed pop-aware moves. It is this blend of the alternative and underground, cool and mainstream, chart-friendly, mass accessibility that makes this a song with such broad appeal.

Guitars drive relentlessly onwards, drums and basslines beat out the path, and Scott’s vocals are cocooned in additional harmonies to create an anthemic, fist-in-the-air euphoria. And the message is clear: the world around us is constantly changing, often against our wishes, always beyond our control. And, as much as we try to stand firm against them, sometimes, actually, almost every time, you have to remember that there is nothing you can do about it, that the best course of action is not to fight it, accept things for the way they are, shrug, smile and just “walk away and wave” goodbye.

Joined by his friend and bandmate from the Fleetwood Mac tribute act TUSK, Tom Nelson on drums and bassist, and all-round studio wizard Brian J Anthony, Scott finds himself at the apex of a formidable power trio, perhaps the purest form of rock and roll expression known to man, ironically, something that doesn’t ever change. Three top musicians firing on all cylinders with no room for anyone not to be doing their job, and an efficient and effective musical machine.

If this isn’t the sound of rock and roll staying true to its nature but also moving effortlessly with the times, I don’t know what is!

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