The Daily Spin, July 26
Katie Gregson-MacLeod | songs written for piano
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: songs written for piano (2022)
Artist: Katie Gregson-MacLeod
Link:
Short and sweet remains a formula that works a lot more often than it misses, in my experiences, and Katie Gregson-MacLeod’s no different with songs written for piano, a very Bridgersian depiction of young adulthood, candid and ethereal vocals that stun in all the best ways, soaring deep into the distance over pared-down piano arrangements that call in backing strings and echoing back-line vocals to support, but never more than whispers.
I was, admittedly, a little taken aback at Gregson-MacLeod being Scottish, mostly in the shock value of the Scottish accents making a very pronounced debut towards the end of ‘i’m worried it will always be you’, but even that can’t dissuade me from enjoying this, because when Katie gets going, she flies in a way that I don’t feel as though I see too much anymore. Though the album veers a little into one-note territory, and the song that broke her into the public eye happens to be, in my opinion, her weakest, it’s far from enough to discount this.
Rating: 8.9/10
Best Tracks: i’m worried it will always be you; white lies
Worst Tracks: complex