In a follow-up to his acclaimed 2021 album Settler, Scottish musician Malcolm MacWatt returns on 26th January with Dark Harvest (via Need to Know Music). While he may draw on the deep well of tradition and folklore, he is very much a contemporary folk artist whose songs are shaped by history, experience, politics, and personal beliefs but ultimately by deep compassion.
“Folk music isn’t stuck in the past”, he says. “It’s constantly being written and rewritten, and while I throw a little light onto certain historical events, I’m also trying to create new stories and songs that reflect life today.”
As evidenced by ‘Drowsy Maggie’, the video made by Marry Waterson, he does not shy away from the darker themes that plague society today.
He told Folk Radio: “I’m a proud Scot who loves his country and I don’t feel it is unpatriotic to point out the tragic struggle Scotland has with drug addiction. This is the squalid reality of the drug issue and as a songwriter, I want to show how ordinary people are affected.”
Talking about the making of the video, Marry Waterson told us: “All my visual cues were right there in Malcolm’s work. The’ jolly’ start of the song, looping into something off-kilter/manic and tragic. The imagery is built with layers of footage, hand-painted cine film and scanner art with graffiti and grunge threaded through.”
MacWatt plays every instrument on the album except for the piano. It also features Nathan Bell, Angeline Morrison and Pat MacManus.
You can also catch Malcolm MacWatt at the Danny Kyle Open Stage on January 30th at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of this year’s Celtic Connections.
More here: https://www.malcolmmacwatt.com/